SEEING THE SCIENCE: ACCOMMODATING COLOR VISION DEFICIENCY FOR GEOSCIENCES STUDENTS

Approximately 8% males and 0.5% females worldwide experience color blindness, or color vision deficiency. We recognized that hundreds of students on our campus experience some level of limited color-vision, which we have personally witnessed in introductory laboratories and lecture courses over the past 15 years. Historically, color blindness accommodations were limited to reducing overall use of color, printing high contrast materials, and labeling items with letters, numbers, or symbols. These techniques can be adequate, but some disciplines including the geosciences necessitate the use and differentiation of color; our physical geology laboratory incorporates mineral and rock identifications that require students to directly observe colors of hand samples. Geologic maps and satellite imagery also require color differentiation. Color blind students traditionally relied on lab partners’ observations or teaching assistants to complete their assignments.

In spring of 2023, geoscience and agriculture professors partnered to acquire a set of EnChroma glasses through the company's Color Accessibility Program, for student use. The glasses are formulated to address different types of color deficiency and are available free of cost to students via a short-term loan program managed through the Department of Geosciences. The glasses foster student autonomy and sharpen these students’ ability to make independent observations of classroom materials.

Response to this initiative has been overwhelming and positive, with students and faculty from multiple disciplines—including unmanned aviation, geology, and geospatial—requesting the loan of these glasses. In Fall 2023, we expanded the program to double the number of glasses (20 pairs) available for loan. This program supports students who have been largely overlooked and allows them to participate in opportunities and potential careers that may have been historically closed to color vision deficit people.