Did you know that the military often use colour blind people to spot camouflaged objects and people? The camouflage colours that fool the rest of us seem so obviously different to them - maybe colour blind people are more aware of differences in tonality? I'm not sure why this is. I have quite a few friends who are artists, who are colour blind. I always wonder what to think of their work, as I'm obviously at a disadvantage when looking at it. And why is it that colour blindness seems to be so much more common in boys? I dont think I've ever met a woman who is colour blind.

I'm no doctor, but as a person who is color blind, I've picked up some info over the years.

You've rarely met a woman with color blindness because while I believe 8% of males are color blind, something like .4% of women are. Less than half a percent for sure. And you probably HAVE met a woman who was color blind, it just rarely comes up in conversation.

If I recall from biology class a decade+ ago, a male who is color blind passes the gene to every female offspring he has, but they are just carriers. they don't suffer from it. They (the daughters) will pass it along to half of their children, again with the females being unaffected unless BOTH of their parents pass them the same gene for the same type of color blindness.

I also believe there are 20+ types of color blindness that a person could have. Most people are red-green color blind.

What I find most interesting is HOW a person finds outthey are color blind. Yes, there are eye charts to identify it, but most people who are color blind had something in their life that never made sense to them until an eye Dr. gave them a test at some point. Then everything made sense. Here is an interesting discussion thread about that:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/53128764@N00/discuss/72057594064724814/

From a design perspective there are MANY web sites out there that help you see your work as a color blind person would see it. It is an important consideration, you will likely have more color blind people looking at your work than you will many other disabilities.

I am color deficient. cpultz is absolutely right about how a person discovers that they are afflicted with this disorder. It wasn't until a test from my eye doctor at the end of junior high or beginning of high school that we finally understood what was going on. All the years of being chided by my teachers of picking a purple crayon instead of a blue now made sense.

I'm a graphic artist, and need to know my color theory better than normal artist because I need to know what compliments through theory rather than just actual sight. Thank goodness for the computer age where I can look at colors in their RGB or CMYK formulas, and determine what colors I am using.

Also, a fact that I find interesting is that sunlight really helps when I need to determine color. I thought I had a red vacuum for a whole year before one sunny day I was vacuuming the car and suddenly realized my vacuum was green. Sometimes it really stinks to be color blind, but I compensate through knowledge of color theory, relying on sites like this, my skills in values and contrast, and my wife who helps me line up my pastels into color groups so when I am looking for a flesh tone I don't use a green.

Is it correct to refer to colour blindness as a deficiency? Dont you just see colour differently from me? That is something I have not understood. I mean - I can understand that it is necessary for you to compensate for your vision when designing something which is going to be seen by a majority of "colour normal" people, as you wish it to look a certain way to them. But surely there is no such thing as the "true" colour of something? I mean - isnt your vacuum cleaner the colour you perceive it to be? And it is a different colour to a bee, who can see the ultra violet spectrum, and a different colour in the evening, or when a coloured light is shining on it, etc?

It's termed 'deficiency' because the difference in perception is characterised by a smaller range of perceived colour. It's not blindness because it's not a complete absence of colour, as those cases are very rare.

Is colour blindness a web accessibility issue? Certainly, not enough people pay attention to web accessibility, even less about colour blindness.

In terms of web accessibility, I'm sure some colour schemes are nearly impossible to read without highlighting text. And even then. I'm sure somethings can even remain hidden.

im 13 and last year i found out i was total colour blind .
If your colour blind it dosnt mean every thing is gray cause that seems to be what most people think ? It just that you see colours as other colours for example red as orange or purple as blue .. so i can figure out wat colour i am using cause if its blue to me then its purple to every one else .. i was wondering if your colour blind can you join the army cause i have been told you cant but i hope you can :( please some write back :(