Impact of congenital colour vision deficiency

Editor—Cumberland et al did not find a significant association between colour vision deficiency and either educational attainment or the occurrence of personal injury.¹ They conclude that normal colour vision is not a prerequisite for safe driving or working, saying that their findings challenge the rationale of population screening for colour vision deficiency.

Figure 1.

Credit: STEVE LYNE/REX

The conclusions are quite a leap and not at all helpful for people with this condition. Almost all report some problems with colour: 30% in recognising road traffic signal lights and 13% in seeing brake lights of cars. Over 33% say their colour deficiency affected their choice of career, and 25% report that they have problems with colour in their present job; 75% have everyday problems when making judgments about colour.²

Some occupations preclude people with colour deficiency because colour recognition is crucial, and such deficiency is a serious handicap for many occupations, including medicine and the graphic and creative arts.³,⁴ The educational attainment of people with colour vision deficiency may not be affected in the long term, but they are embarrassed and anxious when their teacher identifies objects by colour or they are asked to use specific colours.³

Colour vision deficiency is a risk factor for driving.⁵ The studies that failed to show that it is a risk factor had samples too small to identify the expected level of risk. Schoolchildren should know if they have colour vision deficiency so they can be helped more quickly to find adaptive strategies and be able to take it into account when planning their career.