Color Vision

Testing For Color Vision Deficiency

Guest Post by Magnolia – magnoliaf_y@yahoo.com

Getting ready for the first day of school is a very exciting time for a lot of children. They shop for school supplies, their eyes twinkling with excitement as they try to decide which pencils, crayons, and notebooks are the cutest.

But what do you do when you begin to notice your child getting his colors mixed up? When he can't tell between red and green or any other two colors, it might mean that he has some form of color vision deficiency.

According to Prevent Blindness America, an estimated 8% of all males and almost 1% of all females have color vision problems.

If you see your child not being able to identify certain colors no matter what you or his teacher tries, then it may be time to take him to a specialist for an eye check-up. This is important, especially if your family has a history of color blindness. The sooner your child gets tested, the sooner you can take steps to prepare him for the challenges that lie ahead.

Link: Prevent Blindness America

Related: What Teachers, School Nurses, and Parents Should Know About Students Who Are Colorblind

Etre’s Colour Blindness Simulator

By Zack Ybara

Etre, a user experience company in London, has a free tool on their website that simulates what an image would look like to individuals with protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia. This Colour Blindness Simulator lets web designers upload JPEG images of up to 1000 x 1000 pixels, then compare how the image appears to a viewer with normal vision against another with color vision deficiency.

Etre’s Colour Blindness Simulator may be viewed here.

Despite being “a work in progress,” Etre’s Colour Blindness Simulator has earned nods from web developers worldwide, and has recently been featured in the latest book by Snub Communications’ Craig Grannell, The Essential Guide To CSS and HTML Web Design. Craig describes Etre’s Colour Blindness Simulator as a useful tool for weeding out common design errors.

Etre is on the mark in acknowledging that more than 1 out of every 20 individuals worldwide suffer from a form of color blindness. With their track record, you can bet we’ll be hearing more about Etre and their accessibility tools down the line.

Video: "Doctors say colour blind aren't disabled"

"Russia Today," an Russian-focused English-language news channel, broadcast a feature on color blindness today. The story centers mostly on how those with color blindness happen to see the world.  On the whole, the reporter does pretty well at dispelling common myths about color blindness.

By the way, I "failed" the Ishihara-style test (left) shown briefly during the piece. The reporter states that most people see a red triangle but, according to the reporter,

"...someone affected sees a green circle."

(Oh, it's green. Good to know :-)

What do you see? Please post a comment as to what you perceived.

Link: RussiaToday : Features : Doctors say colour blind aren't disabled.

Color Vision Testing Made Easy

We have a limited supply of the color blind test "Color Vision Testing Made Easy" by Dr. Terrace Waggoner.

"Color Vision Testing Made Easy" is an robust, clinically reliable pediatric color vision test that makes testing fun, quick and easy for children.

• Pseudoisochromatic, comprehensive, validated, and 100% Ishihara compatible.
• Easily identified objects (the circle, star, square, boat, dog, and
  balloon) can be identified by children as young as 3 years old.
• Only takes a minute to administer and score.
• Children do not need to know their numbers.
• Preferred color vision test for Special Olympic athletes.
  
• Comes with complete instructions for use.

We're selling our remaining stock for $95 each. We have 4 remaining as I write this.

Link: Color Vision Testing Made Easy.