Are Colorblind People Disabled?
- Posted by Daniel Flück on May 16th, 2007 filed in People
If you are colorblind, do you feel disabled? And what does the law say about it? Do others have to take some precautions, in a way that colorblind people are not excluded because of their handicap?
There is an interesting discussion going on at boagworld.com, if color blindness has to be looked at as a disability or not. In this case looking at the UK law and their Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The question is not easy to answer, because there are many different types of color blindness and the law doesn’t really name any disability, but just describes them.
You might like to join the discussion at Are colorblind people disabled?
Do you think color blindness is a disability or not?
May 18th, 2007 at 3:58
Im glad I stumbled across this blog, I never thought about color blindness could be considered a disability
May 18th, 2007 at 11:38
You are right; it could be considered as a disability. I would say in most cases it’s more a handicap and one shouldn’t talk about a disability. But in some cases like rod monochromacy it should be seen as one.
September 26th, 2007 at 6:36
Yeah, I came across this blog because I’m researching my own color-blindness (dichromatic, missing M-cone) because for years my dad would tell me I just didn’t know my colors.
Deep down I kind of thought he was right and just didn’t talk about colors when I saw something ever. The eye doctor who diagnosed me years ago never explained anything to me about how it works.
I think it’s a definite handicap and should be accomodated for when necessary. I work in IT, and I have frequent trouble creating network cables because I can’t tell the colors apart.
Also, rarely I mistake a stop-light’s green light for an overhanging dirty white lamp. As a young guy at 25 I’m pretty alert but in old age I could see it possibly becoming more of a hinderance to my driving.
Not that I’m going to let them take my license away due to my disability, come hell or high water.
October 23rd, 2007 at 15:49
How can it not be a disability? I do not have the ability to see colors that are required for certain employment situations. I was denied a license by the Federal Goverment, I have been turned down by the Army for certain jobs and flat out denied employment solely on the basis that I couldn’t pass the test. I relate to Mark as I didn’t know all throughout my youth that I was colorblind, I have red/green and blue/yellow difficiency. I believed that I was to stupid to remember my colors. I became very confused in certain situations that effected my understanding of reality. I disassociated with children of my own age simply because I did not see what they saw. I felt like that person whom hears a joke but doesn’t get the punch line, daily. When someone comments “Wow look at the pretty flowers” and you think ’so, look at the pretty dirt’ it gives you a different path in life, frustrating and isolated. To those who do not think it’s a disability but a ‘handicap’ try it, feel what it’s like to be denied because of something about yourself that you have no control over, nor can change. We get to see the world but it’s true beauty is hidden from us.