Color Vision

Color Deficiency in the Field of Medicine

Guest Post by Kristine [lizbeth_laila@yahoo.com]

Will color vision deficiency affect an otherwise promising career in the medical field?

Daniel Flück, author of the Colblindor website, posted about color deficiency problems in the field of medicine. Although Flück said that color vision deficient doctors do as well as those with normal color vision, there are still some limitations as to what they can do. A slight misidentification of skin colors like jaundice or rashes can spell the difference between saving a patient or losing him. Read more about his observations here.

I believe in the saying: when there’s a will, there’s a way. I would suggest practicing on distinguishing changes in hues and brightness. Although I’m not practicing under the field of medicine, as a color blind individual, I think these will give you an idea on where to start honing your skills as a doctor.

Color Vision Deficiency Limitations

Guest Post by Kristine [lizbeth_laila@yahoo.com]

Aimee Amodio discussed color deficiency limitations in terms of career and educational growth in the families.com website. First: career. Our daily lives are enlivened by colors, and color-deficient individuals like me have certain ‘limitations’ when it comes to career opportunities. These are just one of those times that I can’t seem appreciate colors because my "perspective" differs from everyone else's.

And, as she had suggested, I actually have my mom help out in color-coordinating my clothes (she keeps me off the "fashion don'ts" list). I’ve been a little "off" with traffic lights, but memorizing where the red, yellow and green lights are located makes it a little bit easier.

It is true that a child’s potential may be hindered because of his incapability to determine certain colors. However, if the color deficiency is detected earlier, the child may be taught alternative ways in identifying these colors – and who knows, it might just be enough to help him get through art class.

Link: Living with Color Blindness

Today's Video Games Are Still Too Visual

Guest Post by Kristine [lizbeth_laila@yahoo.com]

Video games are more appreciated visually than with any other sense. There’s so much information that needs to be processed by our eyes, and most games use colors both to create spectacular visual effects and differentiate between important visual elements during gameplay. Some games, for instance, involve matching colored blocks.

However, Tim McDaniel, a color blind reader of the Ars Technica blog, brought up some pretty intriguing matters. For one, he is a big fan of Battlefield 2142. He enjoys the realistic action and fast gameplay. However, he also finds the game frustrating because of his inability to distinguish between red, green, yellow and brown flags well enough. In a game that depends on capturing the enemy flag, this proves to be a huge disadvantage.

Game designers should realize that a good portion of the gaming population is color blind, and their game design can draw the line whether a color-blind gamer will buy their game or not. Alternative options such as changing certain colors, hues or contrasts might be a good idea for starters. An option for on-screen callouts for certain objects/players on the field will also be helpful.

McDaniel and millions of other color-blind gamers will appreciate it if gaming companies started to consider such issues in their game designs.

Link:  Color-blind gamers: common. Developer awareness? Minimal