Social impact solution created in Portugal crosses the border with the aim of including more than 2 million colorblind people from the neighboring country

ColorADD is a Color Identification System for Color Blind People, a universal language that allows, through partner entities and brands, to include more than 350 million people all over the world without discriminating. Since its creation, the language that includes color, created in Portugal by Designer Miguel Neiva, has reached more than 90 countries around the world.

This time, the “Programa ColorADD nas Escolas”, which has already impacted more than 45 thousand students of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education in more than 1800 schools in Portugal, presents its first intervention in a school context in Spain, at Colégio Alba in Vigo, next April 14th.

Color Blindness

Colorblindness is a non-visible limitation that affects the day-to-day life of the color-blind person in simple everyday tasks such as choosing clothes, selecting a line on public transport, playing a board game or choosing a pencil to paint a drawing.

Whenever and when color is the rational key element to successfully fulfill a certain objective, the ColorADD solution identifies the colors, through simple codes, by the addition system of the three primary colors (blue, red and yellow), plus white and black, thus managing to have the entire color palette, giving the colorblind individual independence.

ACROMATHES and Achromatopsia

This initiative, within the scope of schools in Spain, arises from the close relationship between ColorADD and the ACRÓMATES Association (Asociación de Afectados por Acromatopsia y MCA). Knowing that there are several types of Color Blindness – Deuteranopia, Tritanopia, Protonatopia and Achromatopsia – it is the latter that, as a rare genetic condition, mobilizes this action in the neighboring country, in a school with children with this particularity and who see the world on a scale of black, white and gray.

The ColorADD.Social team develops this joint action with ACRÓMATES and SEAN GAMES, with the support of FEDER (Spanish Federation of Rare Diseases) with the strategic objectives of raising awareness of difference, educating to live in a diverse society and concept of equity in the field of education, accompanied by an unprecedented process of early screening for color blindness and visual acuity, for all children impacted by the project. This set of actions is intended to combat bullying, failure and school dropout phenomena, promoting inclusive schools for all, where all children can have the same learning opportunities.

Moreover, a fundamental note for the direct involvement in this action of Colégio Alba of Teachers, Special Education Teachers, Psychologists, Psychopedagogues, Librarians, School Management, fathers, mothers and guardians, as well as the population in general.

ColorADD in Spain

As this is the first school-based action in Spain, ColorADD has been at the service of the Spanish population for over six years, in various strategic sectors for the implementation of the color identification code.

From its first implementation with MacMillan publishing house, in school textbooks, through areas as diverse as the selective collection of waste with FOVASA in the Valencian community, beach flags and bathing safety with a close partnership with the Blue Flag managing entity in Spain ADEAC (Asociación de Educación Ambiental y del consumero), there are also several board games published by Spanish publishers.

The emblematic Spanish textile brand of sweetwear El Niño adds the inclusion of color to sustainability values in its production lines in 2021 and, more recently, in 2022, the Shopping Centers of the Klépierre group optimized the visit of the colorblind population to its 7 spaces in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Oviedo, Murcia and the Canary Islands.

The good will of communication focused on the values of inclusion and equity for a very important segment of the population - more than 2 million citizens - means that ColorADD implementations in Spain are in an exponential growth process, approaching a bathing season of 2023 where beach flags, for the vast majority of the most emblematic beaches on the entire Spanish coastline, will be identified with the ColorADD color code.

This project, which is now starting, aims to be replicated in another 23 Spanish cities during 2023/2024.