I suppose the most prominent job and its problematics when it comes to any type of color vision deficiency is the job of beeing a pilot. Many young men wish to become a pilot and to fly airplanes but struggle on their way because of their color blindness.
This topic has been discussed on Colblindor already quite often. Either if it is about a Study on How Color Blindness Affects Pilots, about an Unreliable Secondary Color Vision Tests for Pilot Candidates or about a New Color Blindness Tests Sets Minimal Requirements for Professional Flight Crew. There is even some form of Color Blind Testing Guide for Pilot Applicants and some discussions going on in the Color Blindness Forum, for example the question: Should colorblind people be admitted as pilots?
In March 2012 Dr Arthur Pope incorporated the Colour Vision Defective Pilots Association. The goal of this Association is to tackle the issue of a confuse approach when it comes to the regulations concerning color vision, to question its standards all around the world and to give support to those who feel unfairly treated as colorblind pilot candidates.
Dr Arthur Pape who was instrumental in two successful legal challenges in Australia in the 1980’s regarding the color perception standard in aviation. He is also coordinating actual legal challenges and wants to have the discriminatory standards removed. On the CVDPA Website he makes the following statement:
The aviation colour perception standard is a regulatory device that we say contributes nothing to the safety of aviation and the travelling public. It has no place in the modern aviation environment
It unfairly discriminates against many tens of thousands of individuals world-wide who have defective colour vision, who want to be professional pilots and who are perfectly capable of doing so.
The Colour Vision Defective Pilots Association’s Mission
- Fight for the rights of all colour vision defective pilots to have an unrestricted career path by challenging the Aviation Colour Perception Standard.
- To show that the aviation colour perception standard is founded on discredited assumptions and has no evidentiary basis
- Establish a fighting fund from subscriptions, grants and sponsorship that will be used to fund challenges to the aviation colour perception standards in all worldwide jurisdictions
- Promote and disseminate the outcomes of two existing pivotal court cases in Australia where most CVD pilots now enjoy full and unrestricted careers, at all levels of professional aviation
- Give voice and organization to the countless thousands of CVD individuals and work to secure an end to irrational regulation
If you wish to get further information on this topic, to read some articles, to contribute your own personal story or to support the CVDPA, please visit their website at Colour Vision Defective Pilots Association – www.cvdpa.com.