diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 0387a3154b3..9cd26e10fb9 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -383,6 +383,7 @@ Reza Mousavi
 Raquel Alegre
 Ravi Chandra
 Reagan Lee
+Reilly Brogan
 Rob Arrow
 Robert Holt
 Roberto Aldera
diff --git a/changelog/12244.contrib.rst b/changelog/12244.contrib.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e39dad1cfbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/12244.contrib.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fixed self-test failures when `TERM=dumb`.
diff --git a/testing/io/test_terminalwriter.py b/testing/io/test_terminalwriter.py
index 1f38d6f15d9..9aa89da0e41 100644
--- a/testing/io/test_terminalwriter.py
+++ b/testing/io/test_terminalwriter.py
@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@ def test_NO_COLOR_and_FORCE_COLOR(
 
 
 def test_empty_NO_COLOR_and_FORCE_COLOR_ignored(monkeypatch: MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setenv("TERM", "xterm-256color")
     monkeypatch.setitem(os.environ, "NO_COLOR", "")
     monkeypatch.setitem(os.environ, "FORCE_COLOR", "")
     assert_color(True, True)