Help for the colorblind (sorta)

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2004-12-10 03:52am

OK, I know I am one of the 8% of white males that is color blind (I am not completely, but I have a touch of it, enough so I cannot make out the numbers on the stupid tests. If I look at them long enough I can eventually figure it out, but it takes me like 2 minutes to trace the lines on the harder ones. (I can see most of them, just not the pale red on the green background). So I am just colorblind enough so I barely fail the tests, but I could identify the colors right next to each other, on which one is which) Anyone know any cheats, or ways to help pass a color test?

Right now I am trying to come up with a system so can ID them faster. Like I look for the "x" in the center part of the 8.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-12-10 04:11am

What's the point? So you can say you're not colourblind, which evidently isn't the case?

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2004-12-10 07:20am

I work at LensCrafters, so I give people the colorblind test every day. If you're talking about Ishitara's Test (or whatever the guy's name is), then yes, you can cheat it.

The sequence is 8, 5, 29, 74, 2, blank, 16, blank, 35, 96. I think there might be one more set of numbers in there, though (in between 29/74 and 2/blank). Also, 20/20 for the distance visual acuity is P E Z O L C F T D.

However, I have no clue as to why you would want to cheat on a colorblindness test. First of all, there's nothing that can fix colorblindness, so it doesn't matter whether or not you pass the test; it's merely for your own knowledge. Second of all, you should really be completely honest in any medical examination, and particularly in an eye exam - you're only disservicing yourself by lying to the doctor (and you're paying for it, too).

As for being colorblind, I can't see any of the numbers in the test. I only know them because I administer the test every day.

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2004-12-10 05:05pm

Heres the story in a nutshell.

I was in the Air Force, when I first joined, they gave me a physical with the Ishitara Tests. I failed, then they gave me the FALANT, I passed with no problem. I got a job (Satellite communications) in which I performed just fine (Flawlessly as my vision is concerned). So I got out of the Air Force.

4 years later, I am most likely going to joined the National Guard. They have eliminated the FALANT test. So when I will not be able to to get the job I was doing just fine for 4 years (Which is all I want). I don't really want to be hauling coleslaw when mentally I qualify for every enlisted job they have.

Have you seen how limiting it is to be colorblind? All the jobs most boys dream about when they are a kid you cannot do. (Fireman, Policeman, Pilot, Doctor, Astronaut)

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2004-12-10 05:17pm

Sam Or I wrote:Heres the story in a nutshell.

I was in the Air Force, when I first joined, they gave me a physical with the Ishitara Tests. I failed, then they gave me the FALANT, I passed with no problem. I got a job (Satellite communications) in which I performed just fine (Flawlessly as my vision is concerned). So I got out of the Air Force.

4 years later, I am most likely going to joined the National Guard. They have eliminated the FALANT test. So when I will not be able to to get the job I was doing just fine for 4 years (Which is all I want). I don't really want to be hauling coleslaw when mentally I qualify for every enlisted job they have.

Have you seen how limiting it is to be colorblind? All the jobs most boys dream about when they are a kid you cannot do. (Fireman, Policeman, Pilot, Doctor, Astronaut)

The Ishitara Test is grossly unfair. There are different types of color vision blindness, I have what you have, and the Air Force said I couldn't do anything with networking and the FALANT test wasn't accepted either.

The real problem is I've done networking for years before the Air Force, so I know I can do it. I feel your pain here, sadly there isn't a lot you can do, besides cheating which always carries consequences and those are even worse in the military.

I think they should give applicable tests for whatever job you want not this blanket test which is probably only accurate for those wanting to be pilots.

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2004-12-10 05:39pm

I don't mean cheat, cheat. I just am trying to find away to identify the numbers quicker. (Sometimes if I unfocus my eyes and move my head it helps me see the number). Or like I said before, to quickly id an "8" I look for the "x" in the center which no other number has so I don't have to trace out the whole thing in my head. OH, and look at the background and the numbers, don't fall for the number if it is the same color as the background but in a lightershade., look for the number that is the diferent color.

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2004-12-10 05:46pm

PS, I agree with you. There should be different tests for different career fields.

I understand not being a doctor, infantry (you need to see the camo'd guys attacking), and a pilot. But a file clerk because of the colored tabs!!!! Give me a different test please. A different standard should be applied.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2004-12-10 06:23pm

Sam Or I wrote:PS, I agree with you. There should be different tests for different career fields.

I understand not being a doctor, infantry (you need to see the camo'd guys attacking), and a pilot. But a file clerk because of the colored tabs!!!! Give me a different test please. A different standard should be applied.

Exactly. It's like requiring someone to pass a calculus test for something that requires basic math.

As for infantry. Camo supposidly doesn't work on colorblind individuals.

Post by **Broomstick** » 2004-12-11 10:45am

There WAS an air force pilot some years back who went through the effort of memorizing the entire series of Ishahara plates by noting unique groupings of dots, and was therefore able able to cheat and obtain a job flying fighter jets. Supposedly, he performed admirably and was only caught when he wrote an article about how he cheated the system - NOT on performance issues.

As one of the 1/2 of 1% of women who are colorblind I feel for you, Sam or I. My biggest problem has been the limitations other people put on me. My supposed defect did not prevent me from working as a professional artist, nor has it stopped me from obtaining a civilian pilot's license. It HAS required me to jump through some extra hoops, however.

Part of the problem is the assumption that "defective color vision" means you can't see color at all whereas, in many if not most cases it means you see colors somewhat "off", but you still see them. For instance, in my case my green color receptors aren't functioning perfectly. That does NOT mean I am unable to see green, it means that the green I see and the green you see aren't quite the same colors. 99% of the time I can successfully identify green in the real world. The ONLY time I have had a problem is on the Ishihara test!

As for the camo - yes, it IS true that many camo patterns DON'T work on the colorblind. During WWII the English delibrately sought out and hired colorblind individuals to act a spotters in aircraft because the camo tarps that worked so well on the pilots with normal color vision did not work on the colorblind. In my case, my color vision is so near-normal that camo works on me just as well as the normals - I'm not colorblind enough for that job!

(And at least colorblind guys never have their sexuality questioned - there was one occassion where someone who found out I was colorblind blurted out that he had no idea I was a transsexual! Pissed me off pretty good - if I'd been on the rag I would have whipped out a bloody tampon to prove my genetic femininity)

IF someone is colorblind and wants a civilian pilot's license in the US the FAA standards now say only that you need to be able to distinguish signal colors sufficiently well so as to safely identify and obey them. (The military works by different rules, and since they have more folks interested in piloting than slots available they happily winnow folks out using criteria that may or may not be related to flying) The test they utilize most often after the Ishihara screening is the simple expedient of taking you out to an airport, putting you and an examiner with normal color vision at a prescribed distance from an air traffic control tower, and flashing FAA standardized colors at you from a light gun. If you can successfully distinguish the colors, you pass. If you can't, you can still get a license that allows you to fly when light signals of that sort are not needed (in other words, you will be restricted to daytime). The color test for a commercial applicant involves sitting in an airplane during the test - the tower uses the light gun to communicate standard signals to you. If you obey correctly, you pass. If you don't obey, you fail. All of which strikes me as VERY practical - can you do the job in the real world? If yes - great. If not - find a different occupation.

MY preference would be to move to more reality-based testing of that sort rather than just saying "Oh, you're not perfect - onto the trash heap with you."

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2004-12-11 03:40pm

What I hate the most is that I cannot do anything about it. With any other sort of tests, I can study or become more physically fit. For this, I am not able to do anything about it.

I to am able to work as an artist (Well amatuer artist, but still), I have worked with different color wires, I can graph the entire color scale just fine. (Every now and then I make an error, but it is not in the same place over and over, which I believe is a human factor not a vision one). Its just so frustrating.

No, thankfully my sexuality has not been questioned because of it. You have me there.

Well thank you. Once I go for the physical I will let every know how it turned out. Maybe I will get Kate Beckinsale and she will think I am cute and pass me anyways.

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2004-12-13 03:14am

OK, sorry to keep bring this subject up again and again, but it is important to me. I am one step closer in discovering how I am colorblind.

for those of you that care, look at this page:

http://www2.umist.ac.uk/optometry/UES/COLOUR3.HTM

if I stare directly at each dot indvidually, I can easily see what color they are. when I just look at the center dot, the dot on the left turns (The pinkish brownish one) to almost the same color as the middle (I amused myself for about 5 minutes watching the color change from pink to green and back again.). My color vision is very pin pointed. This is why I am getting so pissed off over the damn plates!!!! I CAN see the colors, but i cannot see the whole number because of the pin point of my color vision has such a narrow focus.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2004-12-13 03:48am

This is what I got:

Protanomaly - 'red-weakness' requiring more than a normal amount of red in a red-green mixture to match a yellow

Nothing new there I have known about this for 20 years.

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2005-01-13 10:59pm

Well, I know this is an old thread, but I said I would update it when I went in to take my physical. I passed, barely, missing the maxium allowed. It releaves a big stress from my shoulders, opening up pretty much any enlisted job that this Air National Guard unit has to offer.

So.... I am happy, and most likely will be enlisting sometime next week.

(I think this was a good excuse to bring up a dead thread.

)

Ah...... no it wasn't Kate Bekinsale either that gave me the test........ but I wish it was.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2005-01-14 01:37am

Sam Or I wrote:Well, I know this is an old thread, but I said I would update it when I went in to take my physical. I passed, barely, missing the maxium allowed. It releaves a big stress from my shoulders, opening up pretty much any enlisted job that this Air National Guard unit has to offer.

So.... I am happy, and most likely will be enlisting sometime next week.

(I think this was a good excuse to bring up a dead thread. )

Ah...... no it wasn't Kate Bekinsale either that gave me the test........ but I wish it was.

How did you pass it?

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2005-01-15 12:27pm

A little bit of luck, and a little bit of not being tricked by the first number that appears.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2005-01-15 01:13pm

"You have just made a Deutanomalous type of matching error."

That sounds quite scary...<goes to dictionary.com>

"exhibiting partial loss of green color vision so that an increased intensity of this color is required in a mixture of red and green to match a given yellow"

Whoa...

Post by **Broomstick** » 2005-01-15 01:53pm

Happens to me all the damn time.

Congrats, Sam or I, and good luck