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Albinism / Hypopigmentation / Albinos

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Albinism - Myths

There are weird myths about Albinos making them a social outcast.


Cultures around the world have developed many myths and superstitions regarding people with albinism. Some of the common misconceptions are:

Albino individuals of a species are sterile. This is not true as albinos are capable of reproduction

In Zimbabwe, it is thought that having sex with a woman with albinism will cure a man of HIV. Many women with albinism in the area have been raped.

In Jamaica people with albinism are regarded as cursed, and therefore degraded.

In some cultures, people with albinism are thought to have magical powers, or are able to tell the future.

It is also thought by many that people with albinism live a short life which is not true.

People with albinism are retarded or deaf.

Albinism results from inbreeding or the mixture of two races.

Persons with albinism always have red eyes.

Persons with albinism are totally blind.

Albinism is contagious.

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Posted by: reese87 Posted on: 6/14/2009
My daughter has albinism and I am trying to figure out what type she has. She has white hair, no pigment in the retina of both eyes. Her skin is very white and her eyes are blue, and on one eye she has a brown spot in the iris.
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Posted by: Monir Posted on: 6/13/2009
I am an albino from Bangladesh. In this website, I posted some comments on 5/25/209 about the problems I face from albinism.I want to make some corrections in those comments.

1. I noted (in problem 5) that I can not remember a person whom I see only once. This happened in few cases in my life but I think that there is no connection of albinism with those cases.It maight happen because I didn't give any importance to those forgotten people. But It also happened in my life that I could identify and remember a person after 3 years since I was introduced to him and met only once. So I would like to repeal my previous comment posted on 5/26/2009.

2. I noted that I can not read computer screen with naked eye and use a screen magnifying softwares to overcome this problem(problem 1 of 6). But I can also overcome this problem by using large fronts.

3. I noted that I haven't got a job yet(problem 6). But again, albinism is not responsible for that since my preperations for the recruitment exams were not up to the required standard.

Albinism may be incurable but the problems caused by albinism can be reduced to a great extent by taking proper steps in everyday life. I wish to share my personal experiences very shortly in this website.

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Posted by: Monir Posted on: 6/12/2009
ALbinism has not yet been declared as disability.So social co-operation is necessary to bring them in the light of prosperity.

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