I'm fairly sure the comment wasn't tongue in cheek, though you never can tell.
Also heard of a Chinese student who was unable to study languages because she(!) was colourblind and therefore considered disabled and ineligible for higher education (colourblindness is primarily a Caucasian / North African thing).
I agree with Peter, that colour vision is likely to be most necessary for VFR pilots, and of relatively little utility for IFR pilots. So it seems you need good colour vision to qualify to do something where you won't really need it anyhow. Ouch.