The ADA is an act that was first passed in 1990. It’s a Federal Civil Rights Law that allows people to be protected against discrimination that is based solely on their disability. It would be nice if everyone could take advantage of the ADA, unfortunately, if you work at a job that has less than 15 employees, anything they do is not covered by the ADA.

The ADA doesn’t just cover employees getting fired due to discrimination, but it also deals with demotions, hiring, and accommodating an employee with a disability.

Today, we will be talking about the ADA and if they consider Color-Blindness to be a disability.

What Is Color-Blindness

Most people share the same color vision experiences. However, there are some people out there that have a deficiency in their vision when it comes to colors. This means that they see things differently. Instead of a blue sky, they may see something else. Instead of green grass, they see another color entirely – or no color for that matter.

There are different types of color-blindness too; Trichromacy, Anomalous Trichromacy, Dichromacy, Monochromacy (achromatopsia), etc. Each type brings along another set of issues.

According to studies, 8% of men and .5% of women that have Northern European ancestry will have color-blindness.

Does The ADA Cover Color-Blindness As A Disability?

The short answer: No, they don’t.

One of the biggest reasons behind this is that more often than not, color-blindness or not being able to see colors normally would not cause a person to not be able to do their job correctly. It also means that outside of work, for example, outdoor activities, don’t impair a person’s abilities to do these activities. So for example, if you have a desk job, color-blindness wouldn’t cause you to not be able to do your job properly.

Therefore; it is not considered a disability that is covered by the ADA.

The ADA considers a disability to be an impairment that can limit a person’s major life activities. This includes; sleeping, breathing, communicating at work, learning, reading, performing manual tasks, not being able to take care of oneself, not being able to hear properly, etc. For the most part, the disability is either going to be a mental or physical impairment.

What Vision Impairments Are Included?

The ADA doesn’t specifically list conditions where an individual can be protected because of vision impairment. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t be protected under another law for the EEOC.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does state that if you have a visual impairment, such as blindness, that cannot be repaired to a normal level or if you have another impairment where you have a loss of visual field, that you may be protected under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

You should also be aware that while the ADA might not be able to back you up because of color-blindness, your state laws might be able to. For example, if a person has color-blindness and is denied a job or a certain position, or if the employer refuses to allow for reasonable accommodation for the employee, that would be something to investigate further – or even hire a lawyer to see whether denying someone a job because of color-blindness is allowed or not.

 

Photo Credit: Shutterstock Repina Valeriya/Zolnierek