Accessibility and Accommodation in Teaching and Assessment of Histology and Anatomy for Students with Color Vision Deficits

Abstract

Medical, physician assistant, graduate and undergraduate students (and other learners) are often challenged with physical deficiencies that might interfere with learning but that, perhaps, could be readily and fairly accommodated. One out of 12 males and one out of 200 females in the world are born with deficits in visual perception of certain colors. Color Vision Deficit (CVD) is often an X‐linked genetic disorder related to absent or altered functioning of certain cones in the retina. Retinal cones contain visual pigments (idopsins) that are sensitive to various colors including red, green or blue light wavelengths. 6.2% of CVD individuals have Deuteranomaly or Deuteranopia wherein green‐light perception is deficient or absent. 2.6% of CVD individuals have Protanomaly or Protanopia wherein red‐light perception is deficient or absent. Individuals with Deuteranomaly and Protanomaly are classified as red‐green color blind and have difficulty distinguishing between colors of reds, greens, browns, oranges and purples. Owing to the high prevalence of CVD, there are usually several medical students (for our example) in each matriculating class who have, historically, had to develop compensating mechanisms to deal with CVD. This recently came to light in the medical histology lab when our students were attempting to identify tissues and structures stained with certain dyes, particularly the most popular stain, Hematoxylin & Eosin. In several histological examples, some of the color‐stained structures were completely invisible to students with CVD. This, of course, would pose an unfair disadvantage to these students if, for example, they were the basis of an examination question. Follow‐up discussions with students revealed similar problems in the classroom and with certain textbooks. Specific problem areas include: labeled structures in textbooks and PowerPoint© presentations wherein labels are made in colors that are equally imperceptible to a student with CVD; and the use of colored laser pointers that are invisible for students with CVD. Student input and two computer‐based CVD stimulator tools were used to identify specific problem areas for CVD students. Methods were explored in pilot studies to help CVD individuals succeed in the histology and anatomy curricula. Early outcomes of this pilot study included increased awareness of CVD among faculty and development of methods to insure fairness and accessibility in visual perceptions of histology and anatomy images. These methods include: making sure the differentiation and descriptions of structures are not based solely on color; outlining specific tissue borders in colors of white, black, yellow or blue (not red or green) with high contrast; using textured backgrounds; and avoiding the use of red, green, or color‐coded labels.Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported by SIU School of Medicine.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.