Most men are usually color deficient, due to a missing or mutated gene on the X chromosome. The CAO estimates that around 1 in 10 men are color deficient. It is often a hereditary disease.
There are three types of color deficiency, the CAO explains on its website. Two different types of red-green color deficiency and one blue-yellow deficiency. The CAO says red-green is the most common, is usually inherited and leads to the “inability to distinguish between certain shades of reds, browns, pinks and oranges, or greens and blues”. Blue-yellow is rarer and usually comes from damage to the optic nerve.
The CAO says that people with “total color blindness see objects in shades of black, white and grey”.
Does color blindness or impairment affect workplaces?
There is no current cure, and being color blind or color deficient can seriously affect your career prospects. For example, depending on the severity of the condition, those with color deficiency or color blindness may not become pilots (although contrary to popular belief it is not all or nothing).
A recent study by EnChroma (makers of color vision glasses) revealed that nine out of 10 people with color vision deficiency (CVD) said that correctly identifying colors plays an important role in their work. 75% of respondents said being colorblind slows them down at work, and 65% have trouble interpreting color-coded materials.