1.0 Introduction

1.1 Overview

In this modern visual world, the ability to see or view things is very essential, from

basic activities like driving to certain professions which is now using the modern day visual

technologies. The importance of eye-sight is taken an account especially in education and

work. ‘Impaired Colour Perception’ or ‘Colour-blindness’ is the type of visual disability we

have chosen for our project which focuses on people who have reduced or abnormal colour

perception. Usually, these people see colours in varying shades of grey. Colour-blindness is

psychological as well as physical.

There is at least one student with impaired colour perception in every one classroom.

This condition is mostly genetic and incurable .Unfortunately also is very serious for students

who take science classes and labs in which differentiating colour is required. Majority of the

teachers are unaware of this as most colour-blind students try to hide it because of the

embarrassment. Imagine a student in any class which involves an application of

differentiating colours. While the rest of the class are discussing their observation or a result

of a laboratory activity, for example the colour changes in pH test paper, that student will

have to sit quietly, taking notes from his lab partner. (Stiles, 2006)

It is a simple accident in the selection of genes that has caused one to have one or

more of the types to have more absorption than usual. Mackenzie, et al. however, have

recorded cases of patients undergoing a form of temporary colour-blindness, this usually

caused by an infection gone haywire, as in the cases of, congestion, hepatic derangement,

dyspepsia, etc. Although inherited colour-blindness cannot be treated by current medicinal

techniques, there are a variety of ways to slightly alleviate the problem, such as-

Wearing coloured contact lenses: as these help the colour-blind see differences between

colours. But these lenses don't provide normal colour vision and can distort objects.

-Wearing glasses that block glare: people with colour vision problems can see differences

between colours better when there is less glare and brightness.Non-inherited colour blindness

is caused by the following factors: Aging, Eye problems, glaucoma, macular degeneration,

cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, an Injury to the eye, or simply due to the Side effects of some

medicines. Thus, the only possible prevention method for acquired colour-blindness is to help

reduce the chances of getting acquired colour blindness, by discussing the use of prescribed

medicines with a doctor. (George, 1855)

However, there are many tools and aids to help colour-blind people to perform no

different than normal sighted people in their daily lives. The device which we will be mainly

discussing in this paper is Lens with transparent 3-coloour strip.

1.2 Objectives of the study

The purpose or the main objective of this paper is

● To help people who are more interested in understanding of Impaired Colour Perception or

Colour-blindness and

●To develop ideas of improvements which can possibly be made for currently available aids

for patients with this disability using today’s technology.

2.0 Literature Review

2.1 The History of the device

It is said that already in 1837 a German scientist called Seebeck was writing about the

possibility to correct colour vision deficiency with some sort of lenses. But only in the

twentieth century many people investigated and developed different types of tinted lenses and

glasses which should help colour-blind people to improve their vision.

First of all you can’t really improve colour vision, you can only let’s say adjust your

colour sensation. The manufacturers claim that you can pass Ishihara plates tests without any

errors when using such lenses. And that might be true. But this doesn’t mean that your overall

colour perception is enhanced. You will also lose some of your colour perception in another

area of the colour spectrum.

The performance on Ishihara plate tests improves a lot. But in contrary there is no

significant improvement in lantern tests and in colour arrangement tests. Colour perception

improves in your problem area like red-green but at the expense of an increase in blue-yellow

confusion. Most people experience difficulties in dim light or at night when wearing colour

correcting lenses. You might experience some distracting effects like lustre, fluorescence,

3-dimensional effects, judgment of distance and motion. (Fluck, 2008)

Low-Cost Tinted Eye Glasses or Eye Lens: to help colour deficiency in general

, found helpful to some blue-green colour-blinded patients but not for other conditions.

There are various methods to use this type of gadget. For example-

Contact lenses having one red and the other green (for red-green colour blindness)

Rate of success- very low

Fig Low-Cost Tinted Eye Lens

2.2 Current technology of the device

Thanks to technology that now it allows people with colour-vision deficiency to

distinguish colours by using certain special tools for different conditions of deficiency to see

this beautiful visual world. As introduced briefly in the introduction, specific tools are

available at the moment for specific functional purposes. However, we will focus more on the

three main gadgets (gadget number 1 and 2) which can be found as the most commonly used

and has possibility to be improved in the future.

1) Lens with transparent 3-coloour strip (high on the lens): to help viewing the traffic

signal with more certainty whether it is red, yellow or green for safe driving.

Rate of success- high, required minimal training of usage.

2) Lenses with transparent 3-color strip (low on the lens): to help distinguishing the

wires or parts of different colours in factory assembling work.

Rate of success- high, required intensive training

Number 1 and 2 gadgets are used by moving the head and eyes, to view the part which has a

specific colour through the colour filters. This action is performed twice, first on the

unknown colour part- and then on known colour samples. When the two actions result in the

same colour, then the user will know by reading the colour code on the sample. Here are

some other typical modern tools for colour vision impairment.

3) Personal colour-differentiation computer for graphic artists: for persons working

in the field of graphic designs and who desire to continue their studies or work despite their

colour-vision problems.

Rate of success-moderate, required specific course of training

4) Daltonizer

Researchers are now trying to create techniques to make information in picture format

available to colour-blind people, such as television images, computer displays, electron

microscopes, and printed media by concentrating on greens and reds without changing the

images for normal-sighted viewers. This technique is called ‘daltonizing’ which however

does not correct the images for colour-blind persons but enhance them so that the viewer can

distinguish items more effectively. Today, this application namely Daltonizer can be used on

mobiles or any other electronic devices and available to download for free from Google Play

Store. This application uses the camera device on mobile to illustrate how the colour-blind

person sees certain things in order to ensure the colour you choose for an activity or work can

be seen by a colour-blind person or not. (National Institute for Rehabilitation Engineering,

2013)

Fig Colour-Blindness Simulator Mobile Application

3.0 Case Studies

Respondent 1: Visually disabled (colour blind)

Name: Harvinder Singh Rhandhawa

I/C Number: 941012-08-5123

Profession: Engineering Student

Place of birth: N/A

Age: 19 Years Old

Location of interview: 39, Jalan Lahat Mines, Waterfront City, Lahat, Perak.

Contact information: 017-6567762

Respondent 2: Caretaker

Name: Parmjit Kaur

I/C Number: N/A

Profession: English Teacher

Place of birth: N/A

Age: 47 Years Old

Location of interview: 39, Jalan Lahat Mines, Waterfront City, Lahat, Perak.

Contact information: 012-5009917

4.0 Findings

After conducting both the interviews that we were assigned too, there was the

feedback that we have collected from the respondents.

First of all, we interviewed our visually disabled respondent, Mr Harvinder Singh

Rhandawa, who has been colour-blind since birth. According to Mr Harvinder, he

didn’t know he was colour-blind because he has never seen the colours green and red.

So he didn’t know what a “normal view” through our eyes was.

Since colour-blindness is hereditary, it’s either his parents are carriers or either

parent is colour-blind. Further into the interview we found out his father is actually

colour-blind. It seems that his parents brought him to the doctor’s clinic to confirm

the fact he was colour-blind at the age of 10. After further tests, the doctor concluded

that he was colour-blind.

According to Mr Harvin, this disability does not make it very much harder to

go through daily life activities. He said that he has gotten used to the fact that some

activities may be slightly harder for him, but he manages to do it anyways. He said he

depends on his friends on activates that require the usage of colour, such as when he

is in the lab and needs to connect wires and such. To him, most wires seem grey in

colour, but he knows which wire is supposed to go where due to the help of his

friends. He has also memorized locations of wires to make it easier for him.

When he was diagnosed with this disability, Mr Harvinder did some research

on tools to assist him but did not come up with any. He tried to train his eyes to see

colours using flashcards but none of the methods worked. After sometime, he gave up

and decided to just live with his disability. He has stopped researching on tools to

assist him, as he said that this is a minor disability that he can easily work around.

Mr Harvinder explaining his difficulties when dealing with wires

Mr Harvinder explaining how he views colours which we normally see

When we approached him with knowledge of a recent tool to assist him, he

seemed very keen. This tool is a contact lens that filters colours. Although it is

slightly pricy, Mr Harvinder says it iss worth it since it will make life easier for him.

His suggestions were that they surgically implant such lens into the eye itself

so there won’t be a need to remove and put on the lens on a daily basis.

After the interview with our first respondent, we moved on to interview our second

respondent, Mrs Parmjit, the caretaker of our earlier respondent. She is the mother of

Mr Harvinder Singh. When asked, she said she didn’t realise her son was colour-blind

till they went to see the doctor. She just assumed he was playing the fool and didn’t

like colouring books and such, which is why he used darker colours as substitutes of

the colours green and red.

When she found out he was colour-blind, it shocked her since she didn’t

realise her husband was colour-blind too. The topic never seemed to have come up.

She sat with the doctor and tried figuring out ways to help her on and find tools that

may assist him. However they found nothing, which is when she tried the flashcards

to train his eye and it did not work.

Mrs Pramjit showing how she teaches her son about colours

Mrs Pramjit said it was not hard for her son to adjust because he has

been coping with it his whole life. It did not affect him very much except in certain

activities. She just made an extra effort to teach him what colours should go where,

such as how a tree is green and how blood is red. This is why, although Harvinder

sees greyish colours, he knows that trees are green, not grey. Mrs pramjit doesn’t

want this disability to affect him much, which is why she let him get his licence.

Mr.Harvinder can tell the traffic light colours by its brightness so he knows when to

stop and go. .

Mrs Pramjit showing how even glasses doesn’t help her son

When approached with the idea of the contact lens that filters colours, she was as

enthusiastic as her son. She believes that it is something that will change his view on the

world. To her, even though it is costly, it will be worth it. She wishes however there was a

permanent solution like maybe laser eye surgery.

5.0 Conclusion

A disability is a genetic condition or a condition caused by an injury which limits or

disallows a person to perform certain tasks as a consequence of mental or physical unfitness.

In this modern visual world, the ability to see or view things is very essential, from basic

activities like driving to certain professions which is now using the modern day visual

technologies.

Based on the research done, we can conclude that there are many assistive technologies that

can be used to aid people with visual disability. For example, eye lenses with transparent

three-color strips and the low-cost tinted eye glasses and lenses are proving to be very

effective to solve this problem.

Based on the information given by the respondent, she tried flashcards to train her

son's eye and it did not work. Not only that, she made an extra effort to teach him what

colours should go where, such as how a tree is green and how blood is red.

The respondent would like a perfect colour corrected lens to replace the lens in the

eye to rid the colour blind of the hassle of walking around with colour corrected lenses.

The more realistic approach however would be to somehow repair the retinal cells by either

introducing new cone sells, or to change the function of come existing cone cells to allow the

person to see in a broader spectrum.

Stem cell research seems to provide a promising treatment in the future, unfortunately

the fruits of this vital research will still take many decades to ripen.

6.0 References

Improving Colour Vision with Lenses for the Colour-blind. Retrieved on September 30,2013,

from http://www.color-blindness.com/2008/03/29/improving-color-vision-with-

lenses-for-the-colorblind/

Lindsay T. Sharpe (2001). I Used To Be Colour Blind. Economic Consequences Of

Dichromacy. Supplement Volume 26.

Stiles, J (2006). Colour-blindness : Invisible Disability. Iowa Science Teachers Journal.

Volume 33(1).

Vision Aids for People with Impaired Colour Perception by National Institute for

Rehabilitation Engineering. Retrieved on September 30,2013, from

http://www.abledata.com/

Wilson, G (1855). Researches in Colour-blindness With Supplement On The Danger

Attending The Present System Of Railway And Marine Coloured Signals. Printed in

Edinburgh. Published in 1855 by Sutherland Knox.

7.0 Student Profiles

Name: Chaw Yin Nyein

ID: 19522

Program: PE

Name: Haseenjit Kaur Khaira

ID: 18943

Program: PE

Name: Patricia Laviana NGO

ID: 19319

Program:PE

Name: Sunil Kali Vanan

ID: 19077

Program: ICT

Name: Maryam Ahmed

ID: 19594

Program: ICT

8.0 Appendix

Table of Contents

No. Heading Page no.

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Overview 1

1.2 Objectives of the study 2

2.0 Literature review 3

2.1 The History of the device 3

2.2 Current technology of the device 4

3.0 Case studies 7

4.0 Findings 10

5.0 Conclusion 14

6.0 References 15

7.0 Student Profiles 16

8.0 Appendix 18