Join us in honoring the significance of May 13-19 as International Face Equality Week, as declared by North Carolina’s Governor, Roy Cooper.

 

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan presents a proclamation to Charlene Pell declaring May 13-19 International Face Equality Week to raise awareness about the social and economic inequities often experienced by individuals with facial disfigurement/differences, and to adopt measures to foster respect for the rights and dignity of people with facial differences.

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NC Governor Roy Cooper Proclaims May 13-19, International Face Equality Week

NC nonprofits Facing Forward and the American Cleft Palate Craniofacial Association (ACPA), two of 37 global alliance members of Face Equality International (FEI), are thrilled to announce that NC Governor Roy Cooper declared May 13-19 International Face Equality Week (IFEW)! https://governor.nc.gov/governor-proclaims-international-face-equality-week-2024

Connecticut, Michigan, and Massachusetts also recognize IFEW.

Facial difference is a term used to describe a facially diverse or non-normative appearance of the neck and above. It describes conditions or marks that an individual is born with and changes in facial appearance acquired permanently or temporarily. Face Equality is a social justice movement devoted to ensuring the facial difference or FD community can live freely, without indignity or discrimination. FEI works to protect the human rights of people with disfigurements and is an Alliance of 37 worldwide nonprofits that advocate to promote face equality, seeking to end discrimination against people with facial differences.

One in 10 people worldwide live with a facial difference, such as congenital conditions, birthmarks, scars, burns, or palsy. This community is often excluded from mainstream media and creative spaces, frequently experiencing discrimination in day-to-day life as a result.

This year marks the sixth year Face Equality Week has been observed globally. We’re celebrating “diverse” faces with the “My Face is a Masterpiece” Campaign, which focuses on our community’s talents and allies’ talents through art, writing, theatre, photography, and more. The campaign aims to use art as a tool for social good by:

• Encouraging allies and activists to use their creative expression to dismantle misconceptions about facial differences.
• Empowering society to celebrate what makes us unique as an act to create a more inclusive world for marginalized communities.  Find out more about the campaign here. 

Burn survivor Charlene Pell, founder and executive director of Facing Forward, is celebrating her new memoir In This Altered Body, A Survivor’s Story of Resilience and Love, challenging readers to rethink how they view disfigurement. BookLife describes Pell’s memoir as bold, moving, and vulnerable, saying, “Pell offers an enduring contribution to the testimony of human resilience by recounting her experience as a burn survivor.”

Disfigurement is a globally neglected human rights issue, with equality laws in the UK, USA, and Europe failing to protect this community from discrimination on several counts, as revealed in this pioneering research by global law firm Reed Smith LLP. The face equality campaign pushes for a world where the facially different community is valued equally and can live a life free from stigma.

One of the most effective ways to change attitudes toward disfigurement is for the media to present authentic representations, not worn-out tropes and stereotypes of scarred villains, scoundrels, outcasts, and pitiful characters in film and television. Over the years, producers, casting agents, and writers have included other marginalized groups such as LGBTQ, people using wheelchairs, amputees, and those with Down Syndrome in programming, serving to destigmatize certain conditions. Casting people with facial differences as extras in films, soap operas, and advertising would help to demystify and destigmatize disfigurement. It would be a good place to begin. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/disability-is-diversity/202303/hidden-from-view-women-with-facial-differences-in-the-media

We salute and thank James Partridge and Changing Faces for 25 years of exemplary service to thousands of individuals living with disfiguring conditions and for their leadership driving the efforts to increase public awareness and appreciation of the formidable challenges of living with a visible difference. James has championed these causes and is respected and loved around the world for his commitment to enriching and protecting the lives of those who have disfiguring conditions no matter the cause.

Eight years ago, Changing Faces introduced the Face Equality initiative and campaign to:

•   raise awareness of our unconscious beliefs about disfigurement that can result in prejudice and discrimination

•   encourage people, organizations and the government to tackle such beliefs and attitudes and make a commitment to Face Equality

•   help everyone learn new ways of thinking and behaving towards people with disfiguring conditions

Changing Faces commissioned independent research to investigate people’s attitudes towards disfigurement. When directly questioned, the vast majority said that they did not discriminate against people based on their facial appearance. However, an Implicit Attitude Test revealed that nine out of ten people held negative attitudes towards people who have disfigurements.

As they have reported, many of these attitudes are unintentional and unwitting but still result in prejudice and discrimination against people with disfigurements in the way that

•   they are treated at work

•   they are treated at school

•   they are portrayed in the media, film and advertising

•   people react to them when they are out in public.

This has huge practical implications for those who live with disfiguring conditions, who might assume that they will not get front line jobs, go to a university, or even be able to walk down the street without being the target of intrusive stares.

This year Changing Faces is giving the campaign a special push, with the UK’s first Face Equality Day on Friday, May 26. Find out more and how to get involved! (www.changingfaces.org)

Changing Faces will be publishing Disfigurement in the UK, the first major study of the real life experiences of people who have a disfigurement that confirms what we have heard anecdotally for decades, that people with disfigurement experience unfairness, rudeness, and even illegal discrimination at every stage of their lives.

Changing Faces is asking individuals, organizations, companies and groups to sign the Face Equality Pledge, committing to fair and equal treatment. Sign the Pledge now! , and visit www.FaceEquailty.com for specific details and information as to how you can be more involved.

Start today, by signing the online petition and posting your photo of support on social media!

If you have any questions about Face Equality Day, please contact the Campaign Team at 03 45 450 0275 or email faceequality@changingfaces.org.uk

 

Take a look at this “Oscar” worthy one minute, thought-provoking documentary titled “Leo.”

It causes each of us to think about the way we form opinions of others based solely on their physical appearance. “Downton Abbey” star, Michelle Dockery stars in this powerful film funded and developed for Changing Faces’ Campaign for Facial Equality.

Please share the “Leo” film with friends, family, colleagues, media representatives, healthcare professionals, educators, and everyone you know.

Changing Faces is the preeminent British charity representing children, young people and adults who have disfigurements to the face, hands or body. In 2008, Changing Faces launched the Face Equality campaign, which aims to ensure that people with disfigurement are treated without prejudice or discrimination. The campaign targets employers, schools, health care professionals, the media, policy makers and the general public, and has used posters featuring adults and children with facial disfigurement that have appeared on the London Underground and across England.

Research indicates that the media continues to perpetuate myths associated with disfigurement in movies, advertisements and television. People with visible scars are inaccurately associated with deviant or undesirable behavior.

“Children are influenced by the negative attitudes toward people with facial and physical differences that pervade children’s literature and contemporary media” (International, 2002). It’s irrelevant whether the characters portrayed in films are fictional or real if their disfigurement is associated with evil or villainous behavior.

During the last few years, encouraging examples of casting “disfigured” individuals in a positive light have appeared on U.S. television programs.

In October 2008, Iraqi War veteran and burn survivor, J.R. Martinez, was cast as combat veteran Brot Monroe on the Daytime Emmy Award-winning drama “All My Children.”

Last year, J.R. dazzled millions week after week with his drive and determination to win “Dancing With The Stars.” The public embraced and voted for him and his partner, Katrina, despite his disfigurement. His wit, enthusiasm and charm shone through his scars. J.R. was invited to be the 2012 Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade, and has appeared on many of the most popular talk shows in America, including “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “The TODAY Show,” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Legendary producer Dick Clark suffered a significant stroke in 2004 that caused partial facial paralysis, yet, when his health permitted, he appeared on “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” which he created in 1975. His final appearance was in 2011. Sadly, Dick Clark died of a massive heart attack April 18.

It is significant to note that many older, acclaimed American journalists and actors remain on primetime television shows and in movies despite their aging appearance, especially those who have not undergone plastic surgery to disguise their true age. This demonstrates an evolving tolerance for something other than youthful, exuberant beauty.

These few examples offer a glimmer of hope that someday individuals who have disfiguring conditions may be cast in positive roles by television or movie producers.

In 2007, 2,500 movies were produced internationally; 453 movies were made in America. To my knowledge, none of the American movies produced before or after 2007 featured an individual with a facial disfigurement in a positive light. Please let me know if you are aware of positive portrayals in films that I may not be aware of, or have overlooked.

Clearly, there is a need for this sort of advocacy. Together, we can unite our voices to seek change now, not decades from now. Those of you who have the privilege of appearing before the public on television and in the movies can aid this movement by including qualified, talented individuals with disfiguring conditions on programs and in films. Increased exposure to individuals with disfiguring conditions will educate
the public and ultimately foster acceptance of facial and physical differences.

If you think that it’s time for change and want to help with Changing Face’s campaign, then you can sign their petition to end harmful portrayals on the big screen here.

“Meet the stars of a new CBBC documentary.” The Guardian. 5 March 2010.
What did you think was going to happen?