Genealogy Chat

My wife asked me if any of you have had Ancestors who have had or you suspect of haveing a Disability. The reson she askes is that She has Spina-Bifada. ( pos a genetic disorder?) but to date, we have not founed any mention of this or any other disabiliaty in her line. And it seems odd that no one on the boards, seems to make comment on the subject or asks a relavent question about such problems. Is it a case of our relles trying to brushed under the carpet (not uncommen) or was it the person died early and the reson was never given. I suspect that some of the relles that end up in hospitels, poor houses and work houses have some disability but no one will admit it (Then, not now). So the question were have they all gone???

Peter I found from his death cert that my great grandad had epilepsy. This was never mentioned as far as I and a few cousins I have asked can remember. When you are asked your medical history, its one of the questions, 'any epilepsy in the family?' Is great grandad too long ago to matter? Margaret

Hi Peter My sister as you are aware is disabled. I know we have a distant cousin who also has the same disabilties. Also by getting in contact with a 4 cousin on genes dislexia seems to run in the family. sadly years ago, people with disabilties were locked away, and not talked about, so it might be difficult for people to discover. julie

I am a carrier my doctor said it would show up if there is 2 carriers so it would have had to come from the family line somewhere

Margaret I think if asked yes it is worth mentioning your gt, grandfather. Any family history can be helpful. Julie

Julie The thing is, I didnt know when I was asked the question. I only found out a couple of months ago when I got his death cert. Margaret

Hi Margaret Im just off to pick the kids up from school, ill message you direct when i get back if thats ok Julie

There is a maths formula you can uses, in regard to wether you should worry as to you carring a defective geine or not. Its to complex to put down on here but it basicly works out that you have a 1 in 8 chance of being a carrier. If the Disability is in bothe lines then the odds drop to a 1in 4. There are other factors that can change these odds but it depends on the problem not on the genetic line. Its also the reson you can end up with a blue eyed blond baby in a family were every one else is dark hair and brow eyes.

Peter I think it is probably true that our ancestors did not talk about 'anything'. My Mum had breast cancer 25 years ago and thought she was the only one ever in the family. However, Mum has gone now and I have since started this research only to find that her aunt had died of breast cancer but Mum would only have been about 2 at the time so did not know. I am now waiting for a death cert for Mum's brother, who died before she was born. Mum said he'd had a childhood accident and died very young. On the burial records it says invalid. I can't wait for that cert to arrive. Such a shame people used to hide things years ago. Thankfully, in my experience its not like that nowadays. Jan

Hi Peter, I have sent you a message about this topic. Being disabled myself and having been researching my family over the last 2 years I have yet to come across anyone in my tree with the same disability as me. And yes they say it is genetic. Fi

Hi Peter I strongly suspect that most of them would have died either at or shortly after birth, or at least very young. The problem of course is that it was so usual to lose children young once you get back about 3 generations, that the 'disabled' children sort of merge into the ones who died of what we now regard as minor childhood infections, or dysentery, or pneumonia, all now for the most part treatable and curable. And because our knowledge of medicine has increased at such a tremendous rate over the last 100 years, we wonder why the doctors then were not more specific on the death certificates. It is a fascinating search, though, as well as highly relevant at a time when we are increasingly aware of just how much of our own health is a result of inherited factors. We discovered a few weeks ago that my daughter is Rhesus negative (she went to donate blood). I know that I and both my parents were Rhesus positive, so one of them must have passed the negative gene to me, unknown to us all. For anyone who does not know, the effect of being a Rhesus negative woman is that if you have a Rhesus positive baby (and 85% of the population is Rhesus positive), you produce antibodies in your own blood. The first baby is fine, but any subsequent Rhesus positive babies will probably die. Of course, nowadays we can deal with the situation and they will be fine. But I am now looking for ancestors with unexpectedly small families in an attempt to work out which line it might have come down from! Tina

Tina my mum is negative my dad was positive they didn't find out till I was due and told my mum she was very lucky she did not have blue babies but everyone of us are either blood group except one of my sisters who is O blood when I had my kids I got an injection after everyone except 1 I lost

Hi Peter I am partially deaf and going deafer by the minute ..no surprise to me because my father was deaf, his brother was born deaf and their mother was born deaf. It has actually been a great help in tracing 'maybe?' relatives. I found an unknown 3 x Gt Aunt in a Workhouse, described as an 'imbecile' in 1861. To my horror, by 1891, she is described as 'deaf and dumb'. This really upset me, to think of the dreadful life she must have had. Sadly, disabled people, particularly those who 'looked different' were put away until as recently as the 1960s. I remember reading a heart-rending book, written by a Doctor in the 1970s, about 'Long Stay' Childrens Hospitals - bleak,depressing and totally isolated from any sort of real life. From what little I know about Spina Bifida, it is not exactly hereditary, but seems to 'run in the family'. When I was pregnant with my youngest in 1980, there was a scare going around that it was caused by eating green potatoes, which neatly fitted with it being more common amongst the Irish Population. I think that theory has lost favour now and the latest theory is that it is caused by a lack of folic acid, which is why pregnant women are routinely given iron tablets. Marjorie

The furthest back you can inherit anything is from your grandparents. Spina bifida is NOT a genetic disorder. It is caused by a lack of folic acid in the pregnant mother. nell

This is one of the reasons I have been trying to make contact with my birth mother. I want to know whether there is any family medical history that I should know about, especially as I now have the children to consider as well as myself. I've developed a disability in the last 18 months which is permanent and I'd like to know whether that is genetic or not Lou