### Possible impacts of colour blindness:

### What can we do to help?

### What is Colour Blindness?

- o the specific nature of the colour o the specific nature of the colour blindness affecting your child.

Colour blindness is a condition in which perception of colour is impaired. This can affect a small number of colours or can affect the whole colour spectrum. Colour blindness usually occurs as a distinct genetic condition but can be associated with other forms of vision impairment or with medical conditions such as diabetes or multiple sclerosis.

- • and identification of coloured • and identification of coloured pencils, paints and crayons can be impaired.
- o labelling coloured pencils, o labelling coloured pencils, crayons, paints, papers and fabrics.
- o the child to select team colours that o the child to select team colours that are most distinct for them or consider using different styles of clothing to distinguish between teams (eg. team tabards for one team and T-shirts for the other).

- o the child to select a ball to use that o the child to select a ball to use that they find easy to see.

Perception of colour is carried out by cells in the eye called cones. There are three types of cone cell; one detects blue light, one detects red and one detects green. The combined signals received from these cells enable the brain to build up a picture in full colour. Colour blindness results from a fault in one or more type of cone cell or through a fault in the connection between the cone cells and the brain.

- o verbal description of sports o verbal description of sports events being watched.
- o clothing according to colour and o clothing according to colour and provide verbal description when shopping for clothes.
- • clothing, fashion accessories • clothing, fashion accessories and make-up can be difficult.
- • between different teams • between different teams in sports activities can be difficult if this is dependent on recognition of team colours.
- o use of aids such as colour o use of aids such as colour identifying apps on the iPad.
- o keys are consistently provided o keys are consistently provided alongside all graphs/charts/maps/diagrams in which correct identification of colour is important.
- • or locating a ball such as a red • or locating a ball such as a red cricket or hockey ball against a green background can be difficult.

Colour vision can be described as:

- • Colour is received from • Colour is received from all three types of cone.
- • maps, photographs, graphs • maps, photographs, graphs and charts can be difficult.
- o producing o producing graphs/charts/maps/diagrams with a variety of shading (ie block colour, cross-hatching, horizontal lines, vertical lines) in place of using different colours.
- • Colour is received from • Colour is received from only two types of cone.
- • social cues such as • social cues such as blushing or anger can be difficult.
- • Colour is received • Colour is received from only one type of cone.
- • ripe food and/or ensuring food • ripe food and/or ensuring food is cooked correctly can be challenging.
- • All three types of cone • All three types of cone are faulty so the brain receives no information on colour. In these cases the world is perceived in shades of black and white.
- o techniques for selecting and o techniques for selecting and cooking food that rely on touch and smell rather than distinction of colour.
- • LED lights can be difficult • LED lights can be difficult (ie. lights that change from red to green to indicate an electronic device is fully charged).
- o what is most/least helpful in terms o what is most/least helpful in terms of support!