04/09/2026
Vision accessibility
How many people can't read black text on red background? I'm looking at you Royal Darwin Hospital NT Health who post warnings that are black text on red blocks!
There is no exact global headcount, but virtually everyone finds it difficult or illegible because it fails basic visual contrast standards, and it is completely invisible for people with specific forms of red-blindness (protanopia).
Black text on a pure red background yields a very low luminance contrast ratio that falls below the WCAG minimum standard of 4.5:1 for normal text.
For individuals with protanopia (complete absence of red cone cells), red light registers as very dark gray or black. This causes the black letters to completely blend into the dark background and vanish.
About 8% of men and 0.5% of women globally have some form of red-green color blindness, which is roughly 300 million people worldwide.
Millions more people with age-related low vision, cataracts, or severe astigmatism find low-contrast chromatic pairings painful or impossible to decipher.
Even people with standard 20/20 vision experience high visual fatigue and slow reading speeds when attempting to parse dark text over saturated chromatic backgrounds.
Organisations need to prioritise accessibility.
NT Logistics and Infrastructure Lia Finocchiaro MLA Jinson Anto Charls MLA (think about policies for seniors)
Luke Gosling MP Selena Uibo: Member for Arnhem Ed Smelt for Nightcliff Bill Yan MLA - Member for Namatjira Australian Medical Association Darwin Community Legal Service Elder Abuse Action Australia
