Värisokeat

Värisokeat is a Finnish term that refers to people who have color vision deficiency, commonly called color blindness. It describes individuals whose ability to distinguish colors is reduced relative to typical trichromatic vision. The term is used in everyday language as well as in some clinical and educational contexts.

Most cases are genetic and inherited in an X-linked pattern, resulting in a higher incidence among men. The most common forms are red-green deficiencies, including protanopia and deuteranopia, and their milder variants protanomaly and deuteranomaly. Blue-yellow deficiencies, such as tritanopia and tritanomaly, are less common. In rare cases, complete color blindness is called achromatopsia.

Prevalence varies by population. In people of European descent, about 8 percent of men and 0.5 percent of women have some form of color vision deficiency; overall prevalence is lower in many regions. Diagnosis is typically made with color tests such as the Ishihara plates or more detailed assessments using an anomaloscope.

Impact and accessibility: värisokeat may have difficulties with color-coded information in education, work, and everyday life. To support inclusion, designers and educators are advised to use high-contrast color schemes, avoid relying on color alone to convey information, and provide text labels or patterns. Digital content should follow color-contrast and accessible labeling guidelines, and assistive tools can help with color identification.

Terminology and usage: In Finnish, värisokeat is usually used as a noun referring to color-vision–deficient individuals. Language usage may favor person-first phrasing, such as värisokeat ihmiset, to emphasize people before condition. See also color vision deficiency.