For about three out of four of them, he said, the results come as a total shock. Many professions, including firefighting, the military and law enforcement, restrict or even ban colorblind people from some positions. After all, meat inspectors must detect telltale blemishes, diamond appraisers must spot gradations of color and bus drivers must react to stoplights. And as color becomes more widely used in everything from newspapers to computers, it poses new challenges to colorblind workers. Increasingly, though, there is reason for colorblind people to hope that they can crack careers once denied to them.
Some employers are unilaterally relaxing standards.
But technology takes the most credit, as improved products hit the market. Factories and stores often have machines that help workers match paint colors, for example. Software tools are now available to help Web designers create user-friendly pages. And special lenses that do not cure but are intended to aid color vision are being produced and marketed more widely. That has made a difference for one of Dr. Cohen's patients, a photo-copier technician for the Xerox Corporation.