Color Blindness, medically known as Daltonism or deuteranopia is a common malady, especially among men. Color vision deficiency is defined as the inability to perceive differences between some or all colors that other people can easily distinguish. Most often it’s genetic, but it can be caused by other reasons.

This handicap has always been ignored. But it shouldn't be. There are an estimated 10 million colorblind people driving cars in the US and they often can't see the difference between a red and a green light.

However, they obviously function very well in daily tasks. read Ruedi's story to see just what it meant to be part of an ignored handicap.

Ruedi's Story:
We first realized that I was colorblind when I was about 5 years old. (I am 49 now) At the grocery store, my mother said I could have any doughnut I wanted. I said I’d like to have the blue one. She told me to stop kidding around and pick a doughnut.

Again, I said I wanted the blue one. My brother spoke up saying that Mom told me I could have whatever I wanted, so let him have the blue one. After a brief moment of silence, my Mom looked at my Dad, and they knew we couldn’t see colors very well. (The doughnut was pink by the way)

She took me for a color blindness test and confirmed that I was, in fact, colorblind.

When I was younger I drew pictures all the time. I was particularly proud of a lion drawing of mine until someone asked me why it was green. I thought I had grabbed the tan color pencil. I now label them. I know what colors most things are suppose to be, whether I can see them or not, is the challenge. As a professional graphic designer, the software I use helps me with my color problem. My computer can see colors a lot better than I can!

I can pass the drivers license color test for some reason with no problem. However, I don’t see the green light as being green. It looks white to me. But it does look different from the yellow and red light, so I simply go when the light is white.
In my early 20’s, I tried to get a pilots license. They have a much more extensive color blindness test. I got about 1/3 of the way though the book before I couldn’t see anything anymore. Needless to say, I only got a 3rd class medical rating, and could not fly at night. Apparently planes have a white light and a green light on the wing tips, so at night, you know if it’s coming at you, or going the other way. I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to tell.

Even though I am able to pass the driving color test, here’s a thought, how come the traffic lights are simply different colors? Why not different shapes too? Maybe a circle, a triangle and a square? That would be very helpful. But as I mentioned, color blindness is just an ignored handicap.

For a new house, I bought a refrigerator that cost about $1300.00 Inside it has a tiny light the size of a pin to tell the status of my water filter. It’s either green or it’s red. Can I tell the difference? Of course not. Again, the color issue is ignored.

I could never be an electrician. Beige wire with a tan stripe? Pale yellow wire with a light green stripe? Wouldn’t work! I’d blow something up, probably myself!

The most helpful thing for me would be to make any color choices the widest apart they can be. For example, look at a color wheel. The 3 primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. They are the farthest apart from each other. I don’t mix those up. How about a yellow and blue light on my fridge? Why is everything red and green? Red-green color blindness is the most common form.

The names of colors don’t help either. Purple and violet are the same color. They are red and blue mixed. Violet has more blue in it; purple has more red in it. So, who decides when it stops being one and starts being the other?

I wear blue jeans a lot because that’s pretty safe. There’s a line of children’s clothes that feature little animals on the tags, so the kids can match up a Giraffe shirt with Giraffe pants and the clothes match. I’d love to have the same thing for adults!

As far as handicaps go, being colorblind is not a terribly serious one. I can walk, I can talk, I can hear, etc, but it is so often very frustrating when something so simple is impossible for me, because it was somehow color-coded .

I wish manufacturers of the various products we all use on a day to day basis would realize how many people have difficulty seeing subtle differences in colors, and make an effort to be a bit more accommodating.