Friday, January 07, 2005

Colorblindness


Jim Doane was humiliated when he passed the ball to a member of the opposing team with the red jersey instead of to his own team member with the green jersey. He was also humiliated when he wore clothing that clashed on an important date. “Karate was awful,” he said. “I couldn‘t tell a green belt -- who I could beat -- from a brown belt -- who I couldn‘t.” He had a short-lived career in high school as a fry cook. “It was impossible to tell when the meat was cooked,” he said. He wanted to be a physician, but was told that colorblind people couldn’t be doctors. He switched to engineering. Now retired, Jim still works part time as an engineer, but he has more time for his hobbies, among which is working with stained glass (his wife helps him with the colors). (And there's an example -- sorry it's sideways!)

Doane is far from alone. Among the most common of genetic disorders, color vision deficiency (CVD), or colorblindness, affects 1:12 males and 1:200 females. Although people of European descent are more often affected, the disorder affects people of all races and ethnic origins. The condition may be mild, moderate or severe. Severe CVD like Doane’s affects about two percent of males (and a rare female). Even those with a severe problem like Doane's can see blue and yellow, so CVD is probably a better term than "colorblind." (There's a condition in which those affected may see no color at all. It's called achromatopsia and affects 1:33,000 people.)

Although considered a "curiosity" by some, CVD poses real challenges for those affected in school, at home, in the environment and in the workplace.

A superintendent of schools, Joe Nolan, has three sons, two with CVD. He said he never realized the coping necessary because of this condition and could never convince teachers to consider the disorder when working with students, especially those with learning disorders.

I was a school nurse for many years where I tested students' color vision. It was then that I realized how common this disorder is and the challenges involved for those affected. Because I could find no literature for children on this disorder, I wrote the book Seeing Color: It’s My Rainbow, Too and, for older readers, Color is in the Eye of the Beholder. My Web site is: http://www.cvdbooks.com/.

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