Is it time to talk about face equality?

Although facial disfigurement affects almost 600,000 people in the UK, many of us don’t know how to react when we meet someone who has a visible facial difference. Saman Javed speaks to charities on how to best normalise it

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Across the UK, approximately 1.3 million children, young people and adults have a significant disfigurement, with almost half of them affecting the face.

The impact of a visible difference on a person’s life is far-reaching. Research commissioned by Changing Faces, a charity that supports those affected by visible differences, found that six in 10 people have experienced hostile behaviour from strangers as a result.

More than 25 per cent of people had experienced a hate crime, and one in three had felt either depressed, anxious or sad.