Is colorblindness a disability

Answer 1

Not necessarily. The allele for colorblindness is recessive. For a female, in order to be colorblind she must have to recessive alleles for colorblindness. Example: XcXc would be colorblind. XCXc would be a carrier for colorblindness, but not colorblind. For a male, because colorblindness is a sex-linked gene, he only needs one allele to be colorblind. Example: XcY is colorblind. XCY is not colorblind.

Answer 2

My answer will refer to red-green colorblindness, which is X-linked.

Red-green color vision is controlled by a gene on the X chromosome. Because the allele for red-green colorblindness is rare and recessive, a female usually has one functioning red-green color vision allele on one of her X chromosomes, even if she also carries the recessive allele on the other X chromosome. Because she does have one dominant allele on one of her X chromosomes, she is herself normal, but if she passes the X chromosome with the recessive trait to a son, he will have red-green colorblindness because he only gets one X mother's X chromosome. His other sex chromosome is the Y chromosome from his father. So, the female carrier for red-green colorblindness is normal because as long as she has one dominant allele for the trait, she will have normal color vision, but can pass on the defective, recessive allele to a son.

The carrier can also pass on her defective allele to a daughter who will also be a carrier.

It is possible for a daughter to have red-green colorblindness if her father is colorblind and her mother is a carrier. In that case she would have to have inherited two X chromosomes, one from each parent, and each with the recessive allele for red-green color vision.

Answer 3

While it is a disability, it is not normally classified as such for purposes of Disability Laws.