Society, I Wish You knew...

We are your neighbor who waves hello, the teacher who nurtures your kid, the singer who moves your soul. We are the the veteran who fights for their country, the YouTube star who creates make-up tutorials, the culture-maker who keeps ancestral traditions alive. We are found across all identities spanning age, race, gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, and citizenship.

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 We are the Facial Difference Community 

and

  We are 10% of the population.

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Some of us were born with our difference. Some of us came upon our difference later in life through accident, disease, assault, or war. At every turn, we are faced with rude stares, intrusive questions, horrific representation in Hollywood, and doors (literally and figuratively) slammed in our faces.

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The paradox is clear: As a community, we are largely invisible to the rest of the world.  As individuals, we are sentient neon signs. We endure constant rejection, discrimination, and abuse based on just one thing: how we look.

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 Face Equality is a human right 

and it is crucial that we raucously fight for it on a global level because

 real lives are at stake.

 

We will not be buried, pushed into the shadows, made to feel unworthy. Because despite what society tells us, we are strong, resilient, and beautiful. We have the right to joy, love, upward mobility, and vibrant visibility.

 

 We bring with us wisdom:

The wisdom of surviving in the margins; the wisdom of compassion for ourselves and for others; the wisdom of of knowing what societal wholeness should look like even as we are actively shut out. The FaceOut Project honors and builds on decades of activism from leaders in the Facial Difference Community who have gathered momentum, built pride, broken through. 

 

We have one ask: fight with us. 

 

In a society where looks are used to determine worth, we must  crush the stigma  against people living with disfigurements. This is not JUST a quest for human rights, it's a  movement of love  where love means  meeting our fundamental needs: food, water, shelter, safety, strong community, accurate representation across media, and social belonging.

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"Our hopes for a more just, safe, and peaceful world can only be achieved when there is universal respect for the inherent dignity and equal rights of all members of the human family."

– Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women

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Will you join us?