I dealt with a case of colour blindness a few years ago. There was
no problem getting the LEA to accept it as a suitable condition, the
problem was finding something sensible to do about it.
The student was on a fashion degree and had told her college she
wanted a helper to follow her around telling her the colour of cloth
samples. When putting an ensemble together she might visit large
stores and pick samples of fabrics to work with. She felt she
needed someone to walk around saying things like "that's blue" or
"that's pinky brown" etc. I was asked to endorse this request to the
LEA as part of the DSA.
The student had always been colour blind, so had no history of
sensing how colours clash or match. We all know that what makes
two colours go together isn't simply "their colour" but the particular
shades and even textures. It's also very subjective. (Anyone who
has seen me in my black suit, brown boots, green Kermit-the-frog
tie and red striped shirt will know what I mean) So telling her the
names of colours was a waste of time- she had almost no idea
what this meant. I felt I had to decline.
The Academic Head was very clear that what they would be
judging was not the student's input, but the helper's, and he wasn't
having that. We agreed to meet some weeks later to review
matters and by then she had completely changed her mind. It had
been agreed that, just like dyslexic spelling, her choice of colour
would be down played in the judging of her work. We also agreed
to hope that "the monochrome" look would come back into fashion.
Another problem was easier to solve. Red-green colour blindness is
quite common in men and we had a student who needed to be able
to distinguish these only. Since red disappears when looked at
through a red filter, and turns black when viewed through a green
one, we simply provided him with a labelled plastic filter and he
was able to work the rest out for himself.
Dave Laycock
Head of CCPD
Chair of NADO
Computer Centre for People with Disabilities
University of Westminster
72 Great Portland Street
London W1N 5AL
tel. 020 7911-5161
fax. 020 7911-5162
WWW home page: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/ccpd/
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