A genetic counselor is a person that helps patients with genetic disorders by providing them with information and support. They can also educate other health care professionals. Genetic Counselors carry out research as well, finding treatments for various genetic diseases.
A genetic counselor has to have:
at least a Master's Degree
good social skills
good writing skills
reasoning, listening, and comprehension
Genetic counselors also have to be mentally stable, as they have an emotionally demanding job. They often meet their patients face-to-face and get in emotional situations.
The mean salary of a genetic counselor in 2004 was $53,942.
Color Blindness is an X-linked trait. This explains why males are much more likely to have it than females. Offspring inherit Color Blindness from their mother, because the father only contributes the Y chromosome. A female can only have the disorder if her father has it and her mother either has it or is a carrier.
Let the genotype for a male child with color blindness be Xb Y, with b denotes colorblindness and B denotes regular vision. The father's genotype could be XB Y or Xb Y. The father's X chromosome does not matter if the offspring is male. The mother's genotype could be XB Xb or Xb Xb. The more likely of the two is XB Xb, because colorblind females are rare.
For a female child, the genotype would have to be Xb Xb. For this combination, the father would have to be colorblind (Xb Y) and the mother would have to either be colorblind (Xb Xb) or a carrier (XB Xb).
According to some statistics, the prevalence of colorblindess in European-origin males is approximately 8-12%. In females, it is only about one half of one percent.
X-linked Punnet squares use a capital letter (B) for a dominant gene and a lowercase letter (b) for a recessive gene.
In the following squares, a child with greenletters is not affected and does not have colorblindness.Red means that the child is completely affected. Bluemeans that the child is a carrier, and can only happen with females.
Just to show you what a regular X-linked Punnet square looks like, this shows the possible offspring from a healthy male and healthy female. The male is on top, hence the "Y", and the female is on the left side. No lowercase letters are present, so nobody could have the disease.
This square shows the possible outcomes of an affected male and a healthy female. If a daughter is born, she will be a carrier 100% of the time. A son would not be affected.
This square shows an affected male and a carrier female. If a daughter is born, there is a 50% chance she will be a carrier and a 50% chance she will be affected. If a son is born, there is a fifty-fifty chance whether he will be affected or not.
This square shows a healthy male and a carrier female. A daughter born would either be a carrier or not be affected. A son born would have a fifty-fifty chance of being affected.
This square shows a healthy male and an affected female (this is rare). Any daughter born would be a carrier, while any son born would be affected.
This square shows an affected male and an affected female (this is rare). All children would be affected.
Color Blindness is an easily diagnosable condition. Many simple tests are available, some can even be taken online. Most are something similar to a cluster of dots. Inside the cluster is a picture or symbol made by different colored dots. To a colorblind person, all of the dots look the same and no picture is discernible. To a regular person, the picture is easy to see. An example is at this link:
Color blindness does not directly lower life expectancy. However, it could affect someone by, for example, making them not able to tell the difference between the red and green on a stoplight and being killed in an accident.
People affected by colorblindness generally adjust to it and lead normal lives. Common problems include traffic lights, matching clothes, and cooking. Many colorblind people cannot tell if meat is raw or well-done.
Colorblind people often have trouble distinguishing traffic lights, which is a big problem. However, no physical limitations exist and an affected person can live life almost completely normally.
Since color blindness is caused by the cone cells inside of our eyes being irregular, it is not an easily correctable problem. It is conceivable that the bad cells could be replaced or fixed. Perhaps in the future, scientists could recognize the problem before the eyes are fully developed and the DNA could be changed to not have the irregularity.
