Disease characteristics: Oculocutaneous albinism type 2 (OCA2) is characterized by hypopigmentation of the skin and hair and the characteristic ocular changes found in all types of albinism, including nystagmus; reduced iris pigment with iris translucency; reduced retinal pigment with visualization of the choroidal blood vessels on ophthalmoscopic examination; foveal hypoplasia associated with reduction in visual acuity; and misrouting of the optic nerves at the chiasm associated with alternating strabismus, reduced stereoscopic vision, and an altered visual evoked potential (VEP). Individuals with OCA2 are usually recognized within the first year of life because of the ocular features of nystagmus and strabismus. Vision is stable after early childhood and no major change or further reduction in vision occurs related to the albinism. The amount of cutaneous pigmentation in OCA2 ranges from minimal to near-normal. Newborns with OCA2 almost always have pigmented hair, with color ranging from light yellow to blond to brown. Hair color may darken with time, but does not vary significantly from childhood to adulthood. Brown OCA, initially identified in Africans and African Americans with light brown hair and skin, is part of the spectrum of OCA2.

If you don’t like science talk: Albinism is the lack of pigmentation found in humans and animals all around the world. 

It is a recessive gene that both parents need to have in order for their child to become so. And even then, there’s only a 25% chance. But there is absolutely no chance if only one parent carries the gene.

When most hear the word albino, they think of the stereotypical “Malfoy” white hair, blue eyes and white skin. That is a misconception. That description fits the first “type” of albinism, but I am living proof that there is more than one type. 

I fit under the type two category which means, I started off looking like a “type 1” but grew up to gain color. When I was born, I had strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes and according to my mother, skin so pale, that you could see the veins through.

Had I not had this mutation, I would look akin to my brother who has wooden colored skin, chocolate eyes and darker chocolate hair. Or at least a few shades off. 

He is the perfect combination of my parents’ features. I am not.

Now, I have beige skin, green eyes and light brown hair. People still think that I’m not related to my family, but less so than when I was an infant.

Please don’t ask for pics or proof of what I am. 

I found it very unnerving to even put this up, but I am a Gryffindor and have been informed that this piece of information is interesting. 

Albinism is as common as gingers, so please do not belittle me.

I am still a human being and I hope you respect that.

P.S. My kids won’t “automatically be albino”. It depends on their father.

Just because I look the way I do, doesn’t mean that if the father of my future children is not African American, that it is impossible for my kids to be darker than me. The mutation affects only me, not my ovaries. I can mate with a Caucasian man (who doesn’t have the gene) and together we can have children who are darker than the both of us.