SXSW Panel Disfigurement Discrimination

More than a third of people living with disfigurement have experienced employment discrimination. This is why our community matters and why we are heading to SXSW to make a case for it.

Since the inception of MIGA Swimwear, I have interviewed over 100 different people to understand the disability, chronic illness and disfigurement experience. The majority of the interviews have been conducted with women who have these conditions, to understand their unique views on life, on how best to live day-by-day with the uncertainty of a diagnosis, diagnosed or undiagnosed. All of these women are courageous, strong but above all resilient. And just like everyone else, they want the same as you and me. They want love, they want a job that makes them proud when they go to bed at night, they want to be respected, equally in their field and as valuable members of society. Ultimately, they want to belong.

While I have never been discriminated due to my disfigurement at a job interview (admittedly, I have never applied to be a foot model but I am pretty sure I would not get a callback), from a very young age, whether by explicit or implicit bias, I learned that my disfigurement was something I needed to hide. My disfigurement is something that brought my value, as a woman but also as a human being, into question. What was my value if something in my body didn’t look like everyone else’s? By 8th grade, I was convinced that my disfigurement was some kind of symbol that made me not cute enough, didn’t matter how much I would develop my personality. My worth would always come into play when I was barefoot. For some, my height or my short legs was enough of a tell-tale sign to label me as below average. 

I used to look at myself in the mirror and think everything else looks passing as far as I keep my socks on. I did not realize, however, that giving up the freedom of being barefoot would replace one issue with another. At the beach or the pool, I would become quite socially anxious. While before I loved swimming, swimming competitively even, now I was passing the opportunity to go with my classmates on a cruise graduation trip. The thought of being barefoot 24/7 being too daunting to bare. By giving up that freedom, not only did social anxiety creep in, I started to feel the ick of dishonesty all over me. Add to that the internalized shame I felt for having a rare condition that made me “weird”. So now at the ripe age of 15 years old, I felt deceitful and fake. 

There was no incentive to disclose, in fact I was encouraged by my parents not to, their protective side while well-intentioned doing more harm than good. In the years to come, I hope to become a mother and I wonder if in my parent’s position I would do anything differently. I grew up in the 90s, the psychology of appearance was not as advanced as it is today. With the advent of social media and the commodification of displaying what makes us unique, you can find communities in the far reaches of the web that celebrate your condition, no matter how rare. If I were to have been a parent in the 90s, I would probably done the same as my parents; the world was not ready for it then and yet, sometimes I wonder if it is ready for it now? 

With the statistics of social media’s mental toll on appearance matters, I worry that it is not. More than a third of people living with disfigurement have experienced employment discrimination, this percentage rises to 45% among 18 to 34 year olds. No longer can we play dumb and deny that discrimination towards people who have disfigurement is real and carries economic burdens to the members of this community and to society, overall. That’s why Ariel, Nathalia and I will be giving a panel at SXSW on the disfigurement experience this year. We are hopeful that in a year when the world opens up, it will be a world much more conscious about the health inequalities in this country. 

Let’s make this upcoming opening, the mask-free-year, a year where people that have burn scars, cleft palates or psoriasis will no longer have to hide AND will not have to experience employment discrimination. As a society, I am optimistic that we now understand that the health of many is the health of all. That we have come to terms with our mortality somewhat and that as a result, we will become more humane towards those that are not part of our silo. No longer can we be ignorant of the experience of the other, we need protection and we need society to care, do you care? If you do, please help us signing the following petition

Comments

  • Posted by Danielle Russell on

    DR GERALD IS THE BEST SPELL CASTER ONLINE WHO RESTORED MY BROKEN RELATIONSHIP AND I HIGHLY RECOMMENDS DR GERALD ANYONE IN NEED OF HELP! WHATSAPP +14242983869

    My husband left me for another woman 1 year ago and ever since then my life has been filled with pain, sorrow and heart break because he was my first love whom I have spent my entire life with. A friend of mine told me he saw some testimonies of a spell caster called Dr Gerald that he can bring back lover within few hours, i laugh it out and said am not interested but because of the love my friend had for me, she consulted the great spell caster on my behalf and to my greatest surprise after 11 hours my husband called me for the very first time after 1 year that he is missing me and that he is so sorry for everything he made me went through. He is back to me and now we are happy together. I still can’t believe it, because it is highly unbelievable. Thank you Dr Gerald for bringing back my husband and also to my lovely friend who interceded on my behalf, for anyone who might need the help of this great spell caster here is the email address

    psychicspiritualrealm@gmail.com

    WhatsApp: +14242983869

    Facebook Page: https://facebook.com/Psychicspiritualrealm

  • Posted by Daniel Ringan on

    This guys help me to upgrade my Result when i saw this post. Do the needful if reading and preparing for exam seems not to give Result you so desire, though what you write during exam is what you get in your result, no two ways about it, but you can still do something, if you wish, just like i did in my case, and the result came out well,

    I just want to help. Do the needful by taking your time to read this write up.

    I Just got scammed of 4.003274 Bitcoin to an Online Romance Scammer. Can i be able to Recover my Lost funds Back?
    The Answer is YES you can. WELCOME TO A GROUP CALLED DHACKERs. Where we put you first by listen to your complains and provide you available Solutions.

    ROMANCE SCAMMERS are the most useless Scammer you can ever think of been 60% successful while recovering.. Is alway below 70%, that can be recovered not 100%, because the scammers target their victim one at a time, with promises of romance and riches before cutting them off and taking all their money, these type of scammers are usually broke.. And is very difficult for most of the real Private Recovery Agent to actually recover your money back to you or unable to recover it in full amount which you have lost to them, because of there reckless spending, once they get hold of the money they start shopping online, buying things online etc with the money they have stolen from you.
    During the recovery process we do see all of this thing in there Transaction history, trust me any money that is trace in the scammers address account, is linked to a government approved online market, that will be unable to retrieve it is gone. Not like other trading Scam, trading Scammers do not only target you but many others victims like yourself, by so doing if you report this type of scam to us, and you hire us to help you recover it. Is always 90℅ to 100℅ successful in most time 120% because you will eventually recover more than what you have being scammed, as you are not the only Victim at that time or before. So these type of scammer are rich dude, they make sure they secure and safeguard all the funds they have scammed from people.
    I hope this analyses help in guiding you in most ways.

    For more information contact binaryoptionservice01@gmail.com
    And our best Guru.
    cyberplug@gmail.com
    pointekhack@gmail.com

    List of Service.
    ▶️Binary Recovery
    ▶️Data Recovery
    ▶️University Result Upgraded
    ▶️Clearing of Internet Blunder and controversy
    ➡️Increase your Credit Score
    ➡️Whipping of Criminal Records
    ➡️Social Media Hack
    ➡️Blank ATM Card
    ➡️Load then wipe
    ➡️Phone Hacking
    ➡️Private Key Reset e.t.c

    For quick response. Email dhackerspot@gmail.com
    Border us with your jobs & allow us give you positive result with our hacking skills.
    ©2024 All Right Reserved

  • Posted by Julianna Davis on

    i want to share to the whole world how Dr Kachi the Great of all the Spell Caster, that helped me reunite my marriage back, my Ex Husband broke up with me 3months ago, I have been trying to get him back ever since then, i was worried and so confused because i love him so much. I was really going too much depressed, he left me with my kids and just ignored me constantly. I have begged him for forgiveness through text messages for him to come back home and the kids crying and miss their dad but he wont reply, I wanted him back desperately. we were in a very good couple and yet he just ignores me and get on with his life just like that, so i was looking for help after reading a post of Dr Kachi on the internet when i saw a lady name SHARRON testified that Dr Kachi cast a Pure love spell to stop divorce. and i also met with other, it was about how he brought back her Ex lover in less than 24 hours at the end of her testimony she dropped his email, I contacted Dr Kachi via email and explained my problem to Dr Kachi and he told me what went wrong with my husband and how it happen, that he will restored my marriage back, and to my greatest surprise my Ex husband came back to me, and he apologized for his mistake, and for the pain he caused me and my children. Then from that day our marriage is now stronger than how it was before, Dr Kachi you’re a real spell caster, you can also get your Ex back and live with him happily: Contact Email drkachispellcast@gmail.com his Text Number and Call: +1 (209) 893-8075 his Website: https://drkachispellcaster.wixsite.com/my-site

Leave a comment