If he can perceive bright light I wonder if he can detect color?

Because I’m mostly normally sighted I use audio cues for extremely low bandwidth data, like chat or build status. I wonder if someone with a text to speech tool would be better off getting visual cues for low bandwidth data. For example one or more color panels on the wall in front of you to indicate chat status or unread email or failed builds. Four pixels in three colors can encode a lot of status.