Color Blindness Melina Mendez Alicia Figueroa Kimberly Salinas

Group Questions: What do you know about genetic disorders in general? We know that genetic disorders are inherited from the parents of the affected person. I also know the parent could be a carrier, This means that the phenotype doesn’t have to be like that of the affected child. Some genetic disorders are sex linked. In which Context have you heard about Genetic Disorders? They are heard all over. There are many that are common like down syndrome and color blindness. Why do you choose this particular disease? We chose this disorder because we know some of the consequences of this disease and we wanted to see why this disorder affects a person so much. What do you want to find out about this disorder? We want to know how a person’s life will be different because of this disease and where it originated from. Do you know anyone with this disorder? Yes we do actually. Melina’s brother has red green color blindness and Kimberly’s childhood friend cannot see any color.

What is Color Blindness? Color Blindness is a defect in vision that makes it difficult/impossible for a person to distinguish between or among colors.

Genetic Counselor: How did this child get color blindness? Colorblindness is caused by the X-linked gene. Males are usually affected because they only need one X, where females need both. This child must have had a parent carrier. What is the survival rate? Everyone survives having Color Blindness but it can worsen. Is it treatable? If so, what are the treatments? There is no treatment for Color Blindness.

Disorder Specialist: Is color blindness recessive or dominant? Color blindness is x-linked recessive. Is color blindness a gene or Chromosomal disorder? It is a chromosomal.

What are the symptoms? The symptoms vary. some people may be able to see every color but not distinguish red or green. Other may not be able to see blue or yellow. Lastly, some people may not be able to see color at all. They may just be able to see shades of black, white and gray. This however is very rare.

How could this have been predicted before the child was born? There could have been the possibility of checking both parents’ X chromosomes (male=1 Females=2).

Parent: What kind of lifestyle will your child have with being colorblind? My child will not be able to differentiate certain colors for this defect is not curable. My child can either have proton, deuton, or triton defects. She/He might only be able to tell about 20 hues apart from each other, rather than an average person which can tell about 100 hues apart from each other. My child could have colored lenses or glasses that can help with their colorblindness but cannot give him/her their vision back. My child will feel handicapped in everyday life but almost no one will recognize it. My child may be rejected from a job assignment due to his/her colorblindness. My child will not receive any treatment for there is none. Their careers cannot be a police officer, firefighter, or a pilot. My child will have problems matching clothes or buying ripe bananas. In certain countries my child won’t be able to get his/her driver’s license. If she/he drives they will be at risk of traffic light accidents.

How long your child will live? Colorblindness does not have any affect on my child’s life expectancy.

If your child with the disorder will be able to have children of his/her own and if his/her children will be affected? If my child was a boy he cannot pass his red- green colorblindness to his sons. If my child was a girl and has red- green colorblindness then all her sons will be colorblind since the women have the dominant colorblind trait (X chromosome).

If you were to have more children, what is the probability that another child will be affected by the same disorder? If my husband isn’t colorblind and I am a carrier it will be a 25% chance for a girl to be a carrier and a boy to be colorblind. If my husband is colorblind and I am a carrier then it would be a 25% chance for a girl to be either a carrier or colorblind and a 25% chance for a boy to be colorblind.