Hey guys, I’m starting at Cal Maritime in the Fall and have a fairly simple question…
Let me give you some background first, I am not colorblind, however, when I went to take my medical to make sure I wouldn’t have any problems arise later on, I had trouble passing the Ishihara color test. Although I [I]did[/I] pass, I had to take my time with each card and really think before answering. The Doc said I was fine, just that I may be ever so slightly color deficient but that it isn’t enough to cause a problem, just take my time on the tests.
I’ve never had a problem seeing colors before, when I sail on the waterways here at night, I have no trouble seeing the color of the buoys at all, so I am not concerned about safety. What I am concerned about is that when I get hired by a company as a third mate after graduating me and they put me through their physical exams, that they will color vision test me, and when they see I am having to take my time and such, they will fail me. (I’ve never been hired by a sailing company though so I have no idea what that process is actually like)
Basically, is being bad at the color vision[I] test[/I] going to pose an issue when getting on with a company? I did a search on some other threads and found that companies routinely do very thorough physicals with their new hires, but do they check the eyes in that exam or do they take the doc’s word for it evidenced by your MMC? Are there any sides of the industry that don’t really give a shit about doing their own medical, i.e. would tugs be a better option than deep sea?
I hope this isn’t a terribly stupid question, I just want to make sure that I won’t be going to four years of university just to find out that a company won’t pick me up.