What if our students are colour blind?

I've just returned from a trip to Rome, where I gave a session called 'What's in an image?'

One of the points I was suggesting that we as teachers should consider is that we may well have colour blind students in our classes and a proportion of candidates taking a Cambridge English exam will no doubt be colour blind in some way.  Colour and pictures are an important part of the Cambridge English: Young Learners Tests.

I have discovered a very useful site called Vischeck.

You can upload a photo or picture and it shows you what the picture looks like to someone who is colourblind.

At the conference in Rome, I showed the teachers what a picture used in a former Starters speaking test would look like to a boy or girl who is colour blind.
They can still see that two girls are playing basketball, but the actual colours that the the ball or the blonde girl's hair are changes. If we are asking them questions like 'What colour is this girl's hair?' then their answer would not be the same as ours!

Original picture (Starters Practice Tests 6 page 53)

Deuteranope means that people have a red/green colour deficit 

Tritanope means that people have a blue/yellow colour deficit.

On the Vischeck site, you can also check what a webpage might look like to these people.

One advantage would be that students with red/green deficit would be that having a teacher who overuses a red pen would not have the same effect!  But I was just thinking that the traffic system which functions around red-amber-green just doesn't seem logical!!!!!

Apparently, 7% of US males and 0.4% of US females are colour blind in some way.  Presumably, this is also the proportion that will apply to the students in Spain where I live and work.  And very probably in your classrooms too.  Bear this in mind when you show them a picture and ask:  What  colour is this?'!!!!!