Have you ever considered how much we rely on the use of colour as educators and learners? Think about it for a few minutes. And then, think about what your experience as an educator and/or learner would be like if you could not easily differentiate between colours. 

• An estimated 2.6 million Canadians are colour blind. This is because of a missing or mutated gene on their X chromosome. One in 12 men (8%) and one in 200 women (0.5%) are colour blind. (4) 
• While people with normal color vision see over one million shades of color, the color blind only see an estimated 10 per cent of hues and shades. (3) 
• Common color confusions include green and yellow, gray and pink, purple and blue, and red and brown, with colors appearing muted and dull. Since 80 per cent of information is conveyed visually, this creates issues for color blind students. (3) 
• View online for more images of how the color blind see colors. (3) 
• At best, any situation which requires a colour blind learner to understand information based on colour only is likely to be at best a challenge and at worst an impossibility for them. (2) 
• Subjects most impacted by Colour Blindness are maths, all areas of science, geography, sport and art but some aspects of other subjects, such as languages and media studies, can also cause issues. (2) 
• Maps, graphs and charts are widely used in many different subjects but can be extraordinarily difficult for colour blind students to interpret. They will frequently miss important information unless maps/graphs/charts, etc. are also fully labelled using text, symbols or patterns. (2) 
• Ensuring Accessibility in design is a form of empathy: trying to reach beyond your own personal perspective to try to understand other people who, in this case, very literally don’t see the world the same way you do. (1) 

Check out this TEDx Talk entitled It’s Not Easy Seeing Green: The Complexities of Color Blindness for more insight on the experience of those with colour blindness.  

Sources: 

1. https://www.theverge.com/23650428/colorblindness-design-ui-accessibility-wordle   
2. Secondary School & Higher Education - Colour Blind Awareness 
3. Study Finds Overwhelming Evidence That Color Blindness Hinders Learning in School, Reports EnChroma | Business Wire 
4. https://www.express-scripts.ca/raising-health/colour-blindness-what-colours-do-you-see#:~:text=An%20estimated%202.6%20million%20Canadians,gene%20on%20their%20X%20chromosome 

Visit our ALS Information for Faculty website to learn more about accommodating students with disabilities.  

Please email us at accessible-learning@humber.ca with suggestions for key accessibility-related topics that you would like us to address through the Communiqué.