DCHAS-L Archives, Feb 13 2017 - Re: [DCHAS-L] Color-blindness as a lab safety concern

Monona, the bit that is missing from "you can be anything you want" is "IF YOU TRY." When I was growing up (a long time ago), this was even more explicit: "if you set your mind to it." That means (i) develop a mind to set; (ii) apply said mind to your endeavour; (iii) try and try again.

The undergrads you refer to these days seem to miss more than one of those 3 components. Long live entitlement!

Always a pleasure reading you posts!

Paul

From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] on behalf of Monona Rossol [0000030664c37427-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU]
Sent: February 13, 2017 1:16 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Color-blindness as a lab safety concern

As you know, I'm so liberal I'm a bit to the left of Lenin. But this part of the ADA makes me crazy.

I'm sorry, but if you have bowed legs lady, ballet is not for you. Tone deaf? Put down that Butterfly score. And not everyone can become an Olympic athlete, a brain surgeon or a star.

I want to find that teacher who first told her/his wide-eyed charges "you can be anything you want" and smack him/her upside the head.

There are a many things each person can choose to do for their life's work. To pick one that requires significant accommodation and changes in everyone else's life around them is not a good use of anyone's time. Instead, teach students to realistically look for something that fits their strengths and weaknesses.

In my business, you go to class and find out both your performing strengths and your weaknesses and work out a plan that accommodates both. You cherish criticism because it helps you see those weaknesses faster so you can determine if you can fix them or whether, instead, you need to find a way to use them to your advantage.

You audition and someone decides if you both look and act right for the part. And you don't take rejection personally. You sit in front of your make up table and figure out realistically what your features will let you do and what they are NOT suited for. And as you age, believe me, that assessment changes along with your repertoire or you are a fool. And that's all good and part of life--part of reality--remember reality?

Instead, I'm lecturing to college theater and art students who are so unrealistic they are delusional. And they are so immature that they cry when criticized. What ARE the schools creating?

It's the same for chemistry. You can figure out a way to read color instrumentally, but is this really helpful for a student who then goes out into the real world for a job where staining is part of his/her job? Wouldn't this person's time be better spent learning all those other really interesting things to do in chemistry that are NOT affected by color blindness? They can find one of those that is of interest and do the hell out of it.

We all have disabilities. Some just show more.

Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist

President: Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.

Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE

181 Thompson St., #23

New York, NY 10012 212-777-0062

actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com www.artscraftstheatersafety.org

-----Original Message-----
From: McGrath Edward J <Edward.McGrath**At_Symbol_Here**REDCLAY.K12.DE.US>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Sent: Mon, Feb 13, 2017 11:13 am
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Color-blindness as a lab safety concern

Hi Everybody:

This is an interesting discussion indeed. Thanks to the Individual with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, in the education realm, there must be accommodations made for a diagnosis of color-blindness or other disabilities if they interfere with the education process. Consider that students affected by this in chemistry are also, by definition, novices in chemistry. There are many work-arounds we have developed.

I teach introductory microbiology in a community college setting, and color blindness is an issue with Gram staining. Every situation is unique, but I always say that the science class (chemistry, microbiology, whatever) is where you get a true handle on the nature of the disability, how (or if) it will affect success, and what kind of "work-arounds" you'll need. The most valuable source of information about how to handle situations like this is to ask the person, "how have you solved similar problems?"

Eddie McGrath

Edward J. McGrath

Supervisor of Science

Red Clay Consolidated School District

1502 Spruce Avenue

Wilmington, DE 19805

(302) 552-3768

We did not inherit the Earth from our parents. We borrowed it from our children.

From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Monona Rossol
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 10:01 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Color-blindness as a lab safety concern

It is also a job-requirement for people working in theatrical lighting, set design, costume, make up, etc. Since there are no such requirements in art, it may explain the work I am seeing lately.

Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist

President: Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.

Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE

181 Thompson St., #23

New York, NY 10012 212-777-0062

actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com www.artscraftstheatersafety.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Samuella B. Sigmann <sigmannsb**At_Symbol_Here**APPSTATE.EDU>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Sent: Sat, Feb 11, 2017 7:02 am
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Color-blindness as a lab safety concern

A Chinese student in our graduate program in the 80s told me that students either could not take, or could not major (slept too many times since then) in chemistry in China. Not sure if it is true now, but I did find this at:

http://mbbs.cucas.edu.cn/HomePage/Univ_14.shtml#

Application Requirements and Materials

Entry Requirements:

1. High school graduate or above, qualified for university entrance, medically sound foreigners(applicants with color weakness and color blindness are not eligible to apply).
2. Emigrants from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan applying as international students must have obtained their current foreign citizenship before April 30, 2011. In addition, the applicant must have lived abroad for at least 2 years during the period between April 30, 2011 and April 30, 2015.

What about anosmia? I have had to work on how to accommodate this one with stockroom personnel for safety issues as well. It is not a recognized disability, but it is pretty scary to think about. I found out about this worker's loss of smell when a beaker of starch was left heating unattended on a hotplate. The worker was in the office next door with no clue anything was burning.

Any loss of our senses (Hah!) adds to the risk for lab workers.
S-

On 2/10/2017 8:01 PM, J & K Smith wrot

Another anecdote:

When I was in undergraduate chemistry about 1950, my professor was finishing his thesis in reactions of permanganate.  He was colorblind also and had to have his wife read the color changes during the reactions.  That was before the automated graphing spectrophotometers and all had to be done by hand.  He would be in the lab for hours.

Kenneth Smith

Former CIH

-----Original Message-----

From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Debbie M. Decker

Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2017 9:13 AM

To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU

Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Color-blindness as a lab safety concern

An anecdote:

When I worked in aerospace, a colleague described a situation in which he and a group of fellow electrical engineers and electricians were working on wiring up a control panel for a nuclear power plant.  They got it all hooked up and tested the system and it didn't work.  Checked connections, etc. - nothing.  Repeat.  Finally decide to go to lunch and think about what might be wrong.  Over lunch, one of the group mentions that he's color blind.  You guessed it - turns out the entire crew, including my friend, were color blind and the wiring was all color-coded.  They finally found an admin person with normal color vision who helped them make sure the proper wire got connected where it was supposed to be connected.

My spouse is color-blind - it makes for some amusing family stories.

Debbie M. Decker, CCHO, ACS Fellow

Past Chair, Division of Chemical Health and Safety University of California, Davis

(530)754-7964

(530)304-6728

dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**ucdavis.edu

Birkett's hypothesis: "Any chemical reaction that proceeds smoothly under normal conditions, can proceed violently in the presence of an idiot."

-----Original Message-----

On Behalf Of pzavon**At_Symbol_Here**ROCHESTER.RR.COM

Oh, my!  Yes, color blindness is a safety issue in the lab and lots of other place.

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This e-mail is from DCHAS-L, the e-mail list of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety.

For more information about the list, contact the Divisional secretary at secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org

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We, the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do everything with nothing. Teresa Arnold paraphrased from Konstantin Josef Jire=E8ek (1854 - 1918)

Samuella B. Sigmann, MS, NRCC-CHO

Senior Lecturer/Safety Committee Chair/Director of Stockroom

A. R. Smith Department of Chemistry

Appalachian State University

525 Rivers Street

Boone, NC 28608

Phone: 828 262 2755

Fax: 828 262 6558

Email: sigmannsb**At_Symbol_Here**appstate.edu

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