From Madurai to Minnesota (USA) – Mohan Venkat and Ganesh Kumar are first Indian Professionals to be selected in 2019 ‘Technical Association of Graphic Arts’ conference.
Keynotes:
- Globally, 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women have colorblindness.
- Mohan and Ganesh have jointly developed a compact, reliable tool which can detect colorblindness at a very early stage.
- ‘Dalton’ is considered cost effective against the current expensive tool to detect colorblindness.
The booklet is under evaluation in schools, screening camps to check the repeatability & reliability of the booklet. If it’s approved by Indian Optometry Foundation (IOF), soon many children who are color blind can be detected at earlier age and their career aspiration can be handled better.
Mohan Venkat and Ganesh Kumar of Madurai create history for being the first Indian Professionals to be selected in 2019 ‘Technical association of graphic arts’ conference to be held at Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA this coming March. The conference being held since 1948 is considered to be very prestigious among researchers, scientists, engineers and technologists who work with printing technology and colour science.
Mohan and Ganesh have jointly developed a compact, reliable tool which can detect colorblindness at a very early stage. The tool named ‘Dalton’ is also considered to be cost effective against the current expensive tool to detect colorblindness. Ganesh and Mohan say that this is a big milestone achieved by Indian researchers.
Ganesh Kumar is working at Heidelberg as product manager for sheetfed & digital. The technical paper by Ganesh and Mohan has been selected for 2019 TAGA conference. Out of 35 papers, only one is from India. This paper will be presented at TAGA International Conference on 17th March 2019.
The idea of the paper is to find cost effective and easy tool to detect color blindness. The co-author of this paper, Mohan Venkat, is color vision deficient. He aspired to became a pilot, but got rejected due to his colour vision deficiency. So he studied optometry at Sankara Nethralaya to learn about color blindness and his lifelong passion is to create cost effective tool for detecting color blindness.
Currently used detective tool (Ishihara booklet) is printed in paper and is expensive(35000 RS). The life & quality of the tool also reduces due to aging of paper. Also only big hospitals have this tool and they use it occasionally. So Ganesh and Mohan thought about creating a color blindness detection booklet which is affordable, easy to use and has long life.
They tested different substrates (synthetic paper, PE, PP etc) and different digital printing processes to find the right substrate and right printing processes. They compared Dry electrophotography presses, Liquid electrophotography, UV Inkjet on synthetic paper. Color management plays a important role as it is a color evaluation tool. The booklet was tested for rub resistance, scratch resistance, water proof etc.
Upon evaluating the printed tool with color blind people they found Dry electrophotography as the most economic & high quality tool.
The booklet is under evaluation in schools, screening camps to check the repeatability & reliability of the booklet. If it’s approved by Indian Optometry Foundation (IOF), soon many children who are color blind can be detected at earlier age and their career aspiration can be handled better.
The Technical Association of the Graphic Arts has released the list of papers that will be presented at its 2019 Annual Technical Conference to be held March 17-20 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 35 presentations and two posters will cover a myriad of research projects and innovations in graphic communications from a study of the ability to recycle inkjet printed products to breakthroughs in digital textile printing. The conference is presented in conjunction with the Inter-Society Color Council (ISCC). The Technical Association for the Graphic Arts is an international association of academic and industry professionals dedicated to scientific research and technological innovation in all aspects of the diverse field of graphic communications.
About Ganesh and Mohan
Ganesh Kumar, a qualified Printing technology professional from Anna University, with Gold medal distinction is currently heading the product management division at Heidelberg India Ltd. He also awarded as “Best Young Manager” by Madras Management Association. Ganesh Kumar has a 15+ years of successful career in graphic arts industry, with specialization in product management, sales & marketing, colour management consultation with local & international companies.
Mohan Venkat, on other hand is a qualified Optometrist, presently heads Sphere Sight Pvt Ltd as the Director. Mohan has 7 patents with respect to eye care diagnostic tools. Mohan did Optometry under Elite school of Optometry, Sankara Nethralaya & Bits, Pilani. His start-up sphere sight pvt ltd has been recognized by the Indian government and also being featured on the top 500 emerging R&D startups in India. Mohan along with Dr.Krishna Kumar, Principal –Elite school of Optometry launched the first & only organization for colorblind people in India named colourvision.org.in. This organization provides complete information, career guidance and management modules for children’s and people with colorblindness.
Mohan and Ganesh say that people in India are not being screened for colorblindness at the earliest stage in their life. This leaves millions of Indian children who are colorblind to get rejection in the careers where they dreamed to join.
Facts about colorblindness:
What is colorblindness? And why we should be aware of this condition?
Colorblindness is a genetic disorder which reduces the ability of a person to see wide range of colors. Globally, 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women have colorblindness. In other words, for every 12 men 1 will be colorblind and for every 200 women, 1 will be colorblind. Many of us think that people with colorblindness could see only black & white! But that’s completely wrong. People who are colorblind will also see colours, but very limited range of colours. For example, people with color blindness often tend to confuse between red and green, yellow and green, brown & red and if a normal person could appreciate violet , indigo , dark blue in a single picture, for colorblind person the picture contains just ‘blue’ color.
In India there are many people who are colorblind, but they are unaware of it. This scenario still exists in our society because ‘colorblindness’ being a condition in human, dosen’t affect our body like other medical conditions and diseases. There is a limitation in seeing different colours through our eyes.
Is there any treatment for this condition?
Currently there is no cure for colorblindness, as this is a genetic condition and surgical correction will be very complex. However researchers worldwide are studying the possibilities of gene therapy to cure color blindness, they have conducted studies on monkeys, which were successful, however it will take some time to be tested in humans.
What does colorblindness do with my career?
It a wonderful question. Many of the parents and students do not realize that in India and majority of other countries, colorblindness is a serious consideration when people apply for many jobs which involve color identification, color classification or to work with color signaling systems. Let’s take an example, a school going student, who is colorblind is very passionate to become as a police officer after graduation. His dream is to serve as Indian police service officer. Consider this small example for instance: A Police officer witnesses a theft and he has to report it to his fellow mates in the police department. Here he has to submit the details of the theft which includes color of the suspect’s dress, the color of the vehicle which the suspect used, Color of suspect’s hair, skin etc… And in many situations there is a mere possibility of getting help from his co- officers. Similarly if we consider the job of a pilot, Indian armed forces officer, marine engineer etc…they all have to use color signaling systems day in and out to safe guard their life as well as many people who depend upon them.
What is the situation of colorblind students in India today?
Many students who are colorblind, pursue their higher education in colorblindness restricted careers. Most of these students end up with career rejection, else to join in alternate jobs or with de promotion/no promotion, it is because people who employ them are very cautious about the risks involved with them.
List of careers where colorblind candidates are neglected:
Pilot, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Airforce, Indian Police service (IPS), Fire fighter, Marine engineering, Electrical engineering, Forensic science, Indian Railways, Chemical/Petro-chemical engineering, Maritime Industry, Color research, Air traffic controller, Baggage handling officer, Quality Inspector in manufacturing Industries, Color matcher in textile, print & paint industries, Leather Industry, Art work restorer, Cartography, Jobs under film & television Institute of India (FTII) and Safety & Security Inspector.
If you have colorblindness, you cannot join in these careers!
Today, in India, many people are neglected in these jobs. Many people clear their written examination, physical examination but at the end during medical examination they get neglected.
This situation was reckoning in the mind of young Mohan Venkat and Ganesh Kumar. The problem is that people in our country are not aware that they might be colorblind. Today, colorblindness testing happens only through eye hospitals upon demand. There is no proper tool to detect colorblindness at the earliest stage. That is when Mohan Venkat joined hands with Mr. Ganesh Kumar to create the reliable tool named ‘Dalton’s’. Today Dalton’s is being used across various eye hospitals in our country. Most of the eye hospitals have started screening for color blindness among school children through eye camps. The tool ‘Dalton’s’ developed by Mohan and Ganesh has not only made them proud but also it’s a big moment for our country.
Mohan says that ‘Colorblindness’ isn’t a disease and people could easily cope with challenges faced by them.
Some of the very common challenges include:
- Every electrical device which uses LED lights to indicate something is a permanent source of annoyance.
- Colored maps and graphics can sometimes be very hard to decipher.
- If meat is cooked can’t be told by its color.
- And you can’t tell if a fruit or vegetable is ripe or not yet.
- If you a have a color vision defect you can’t just choose flowers which fit together nicely, or a painting which fits with the furniture, or a carpet.
- You also can’t create a web site or an image with nicely matching colors.
- And you will never be able to easily match your shirt with your tie, your trousers with your shoes, your whole wardrobe. In this case you need a pair of color enabled eyes which help you out (i.e. your family, friends could help you out).
- By far the biggest issue is matching colors and specially matching clothes.
- People who are colorblind might confuse with the field sports where two teams play, such as Hockey, Cricket, Football etc.…They get confused when they notice teams with quite similar uniforms.
- Also in sports and games like Billiards, Snooker, Darts, Archery and similar sports where color targets are involved, there will be confusion in spotting the right targets. Yet there are many people in sports with colorblindness who overcome all this small odds and achieve their goals!
- During childhood, a colorblind child might feel uncomfortable seeing and naming a particular color. Both teachers and parents might misunderstand that the child is not learning the colors properly. But here the scenario is quite different. Colorblind children confuse with colors in their art class, may not be able to play color based games, may not be able to pick the correct color crayon if asked, Rainbows appear to them only with a maximum of 3-4 colors based upon the type of CVD, they feel difficulty in telling the colors of plants, clothes, leaves, fruits, vegetables and flowers. The actual fact might still be unknown unless otherwise the child is being diagnosed.
Interesting facts!
Did you ever know that new traffic signal lights are made for colorblind people?
Earlier days colorblind individuals were handicap to traffic signals, they used to confuse between green/yellow and red. Many countries even refused to permit a driving license for colorblind people. But thanks to the traffic signaling systems used today, this system is made specially for colorblind people, and today colorblind community has a safe journey in India with respect to the traffic signal lights.
Today various technological tools help people with colorblindness to help cope up with their work.
Few of the technological tools include, Software and mobile applications to help people with colorblindness to work seamlessly with computers just like the normal people. And there are many solutions crafted & tailored specifically for individual jobs.
But to provide all this tangible solutions, people must be tested and screened for colorblindness first says Mohan. Interestingly, Mohan himself is colorblind. He aspired to join the Indian Airforce fleet when in school, collected airplane toys and has met many of the officers of the Indian Airforce when in school. As Mohan was preparing to join Indian Airforce, luckily he got diagnosed for colorblindness, thanks to Dr.Vijayalakshmi of Arvind Eye care, Madurai. In spite of knowing his condition as a major setback for his ambition, Mohan then pursued Optometry at Sankara Nethralaya and hereby Mohan’s dream is to solve this burden of career rejection of color blind people in our country through technologies and high level research on colorblindness.
As parents, teachers and emerging students, we should have colorblindness tested as early to avoid career rejections says Mohan and Ganesh.
