title: [Congenital color vision deficiencies as a social problem].
abstract: Color vision standards for various occupations and schools have been greatly eased recently. However, if the trend is unaccompanied with proper advice for color defective persons, there is a risk of accidents such as occurred in the past when color vision standards had not been introduced, because the color vision defect is unchanged. In this context, the history of color vision standards and the color confusion by color defective persons in their daily life were reviewed. The collected data together with pathophysiological characteristics of defective color vision suggest that at least the following measures are necessary from a practical point of view: (1) By education and awareness, color defective persons can avoid errors in color in most cases. Therefore, ophthalmologists should inform them of their defects in childhood and give instructions on how to compensate for their disadvantages. (2) In public and occupational situations, all the information conveyed by color should include lettering or other forms of redundancy for the convenience of color defective persons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Chukyo Hospital, Aichi-ken, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanabe
mesh_terms: D003117:Color Vision Defects / Q000151:congenital* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D012940:Social Problems