[games_access] A cure for color blindness? (Matthias Troup)

Ian Hamilton i_h at hotmail.com
Wed Nov 7 10:52:06 EST 2012 

Yep very interesting. Although the monkey gene therapy was carried out a few years ago now it does take a long time to get through clinical trials though, especially when you're talking about gene therapy which is in very early days and only just starting to have human trials (for Alzheimer's, last year), so it's still likely to be a while off still.
Although it's far less likely than with something like deafness where it's a really strong part of your identity and culture, I agree with Barrie that there would be some people refusing treatment on the basis that it's not entirely bad to be colour blind. the reason why it has continued through evolution to be so prevalent is because it does have some use, such as enhanced pattern recognition. By 'curing' spider monkeys they could well be actually be reducing their ability to hunt well camouflaged insects. 
This guy certainly wouldn't be interested in a cure. The other things he mentions, group hunting and WWII aerial photography analysis are both also pretty well known and worth looking up about:
http://shivamber.wordpress.com/2008/08/24/the-benefits-of-color-blindness/
Even so, if colour blindness was to completely disappear tomorrow it wouldn't have a particularly significant impact on accessibility. Reinforcing information by more than one means is just good general design practice anyway, and unless you're getting into specific recommendations (508/WCAG) accessibility legislation is high level stuff about disability in general, so there's no legislation money to be saved from it, and giving more money to clinical trials doesn't make them happen any faster.

I think what you're getting at is actually disability in general rather than specifically colour blindness right?  Ie. the medical Vs social model of disability. There are many impairments that won't be curable either in our lifetimes, or even ever, including situational impairments like Lynsey's sunlight example or even just temporary like breaking an arm. 
The social model of disability isn't perfect, it needs to be backed up by some degree of medical and fiscal models (ie. assistive tech & business cases), but what it does allow for is inclusive design, good general design practice that benefits everyone, if one group who faces a barrier was to disappear it's still likely to be a barrier for other people too.
Ian

> From: games_access-request at igda.org
> Subject: games_access Digest, Vol 106, Issue 1
> To: games_access at igda.org
> Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2012 10:00:05 -0500
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> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. A cure for color blindness? (Matthias Troup)
>    2. Re: A cure for color blindness? (Barrie Ellis)
>    3. Re: A cure for color blindness? (Sandra Uhling)
>    4. GGJ accessibility (Ian Hamilton)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2012 13:45:25 -0500
> From: Matthias Troup <foreversublime at hotmail.com>
> Subject: [games_access] A cure for color blindness?
> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List <games_access at igda.org>
> Message-ID: <BAY145-W14B6A28635A9BB22CA7E28D96B0 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> http://live.wsj.com/video/a-cure-for-color-blindness/E1E889E3-4936-47F3-8529-824AE7C1D5D9.html?link=MW_hp_tboverticalx8#!E1E889E3-4936-47F3-8529-824AE7C1D5D9
> There's a lot of good discussion topics to stem from this.  Take your pick.
> Could money/time used for legislation/legalities be better used for research for cures?
> What's next - what is this a stepping stone to cure next?
> How will you shift your accessibility design priorities as science - not design - solves these problems?
> What learning experience will designers lose when they no longer have to solve these problems that are valuable for all their customers?  What will designers gain when their users are free of their disability?
> ^my office blocks game related websites.  Sorry AbleGamers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> ------------------------------
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> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2012 19:30:51 -0000
> From: "Barrie Ellis" <oneswitch at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [games_access] A cure for color blindness?
> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List"
> 	<games_access at igda.org>
> Message-ID: <E491DEEE605945A1BA95387BACA1DB2D at OneSwitchPC>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> I think priorities would naturally shift in the push for accessible game design when/if percentages of affected people change. But this will depend upon the availability and cost of treatment, and the willingness to take it up. Bear in mind that some people will refuse treatment. Google "deaf cochlear implant controversy" for some food for thought on this if you're not aware of it already.
> 
> Many access issues will not change for a very long time.
> 
> Interesting though.
> 
> Barrie
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From: Matthias Troup 
> Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:45 PM
> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List 
> Subject: [games_access] A cure for color blindness?
> 
> 
> http://live.wsj.com/video/a-cure-for-color-blindness/E1E889E3-4936-47F3-8529-824AE7C1D5D9.html?link=MW_hp_tboverticalx8#!E1E889E3-4936-47F3-8529-824AE7C1D5D9 
> 
> 
> There's a lot of good discussion topics to stem from this.  Take your pick.
> 
> 
> Could money/time used for legislation/legalities be better used for research for cures?
> 
> 
> What's next - what is this a stepping stone to cure next?
> 
> 
> How will you shift your accessibility design priorities as science - not design - solves these problems?
> 
> 
> What learning experience will designers lose when they no longer have to solve these problems that are valuable for all their customers?  What will designers gain when their users are free of their disability?
> 
> 
> ^my office blocks game related websites.  Sorry AbleGamers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2012 21:38:16 +0100
> From: "Sandra Uhling" <sandra_uhling at web.de>
> Subject: Re: [games_access] A cure for color blindness?
> To: "'IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List'"
> 	<games_access at igda.org>
> Message-ID: <00af01cdbc5e$a7ca8eb0$f75fac10$@de>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> Hello,
> 
> do not forget the development world.
> And other things that result in bad views. e.g. sun, black-white hardware,
> black-white print
> 
> > -----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
> > Von: games_access-bounces at igda.org [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org]
> Im
> > Auftrag von Matthias Troup
> > Gesendet: Dienstag, 6. November 2012 19:45
> > An: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
> > Betreff: [games_access] A cure for color blindness?
> > 
> >
> http://live.wsj.com/video/a-cure-for-color-blindness/E1E889E3-4936-47F3-8529
> -
> > 824AE7C1D5D9.html?link=MW_hp_tboverticalx8#!E1E889E3-4936-47F3-8529-
> > 824AE7C1D5D9
> > 
> > There's a lot of good discussion topics to stem from this.  Take your
> pick.
> > 
> > Could money/time used for legislation/legalities be better used for
> research
> > for cures?
> > 
> > What's next - what is this a stepping stone to cure next?
> > 
> > How will you shift your accessibility design priorities as science - not
> > design - solves these problems?
> > 
> > What learning experience will designers lose when they no longer have to
> solve
> > these problems that are valuable for all their customers?  What will
> designers
> > gain when their users are free of their disability?
> > 
> > ^my office blocks game related websites.  Sorry AbleGamers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2012 00:25:10 +0000
> From: Ian Hamilton <i_h at hotmail.com>
> Subject: [games_access] GGJ accessibility
> To: "games_access at igda.org" <games_access at igda.org>
> Message-ID: <DUB002-W117006B3FAD50615A04C595916A0 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> Hi all, getting to that time of year again!
> 
> The global game jam is happening at the end of January. 
> 
> In case you aren't aware of it the game jam is a hack event, where teams around the world (at over 200 venues) simultaneously try to make complete games in the space of 48 hours.
> 
> So just seeing if anyone might be interested in helping to push accessibility criteria this year? 
> 
> After Tara's great start in 2011 we expanded it out to a much wider audience for 2012, with some fantastic results. Loads of awareness raised, some major press coverage and some really innovative work done.
> 
> The strongest lesson from last year was that success is directly dependent on having someone actually there on the ground who can give an introductory chat, encourage teams to take part and give accessibility advice as they go along. You wouldn't need to be there for the whole 48 hours (unlike the developers, sleep is fine), but the more time the better.
> 
> So if you'd be interested in doing that then please do say, there'll be a jam near you that could well be interested in taking part. Doesn't matter where in the world you are either, last time it was just in the UK and USA, but this year we've already had some strong interest for the Melbourne jam in Australia for example.
> 
> Ian 		 	   		  
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