- sessed with beauty, living with a facial disfigurement can be hard. Neil Steinberg explores the past and present to find out what it’s like to look different.
This is an excellent article which I really feel changed my perspective on disfigured people. I always see them in commercials with their face taking up the whole frame and think of it as a shameful way to make people feel guilty and grossed out so they want to help. But now I better understand what they're trying to do, at least in some situations, is to remove the apprehension and unease people feel when they see these faces. That said, I still think they're going about it in the wrong way in some situations. For instance, putting up large posters in subways does not connect to the personal side of the disfigurement. It does not tell people that these victims and survivors are just like everybody else, with dreams and aspirations and the desire to fit in. It encourages the revolting feelings and jokes being made at their expense. I think it would be more effective to have a group of people with one or two disfigured people in the crowd. That would be less in-your-face, and it would make people consider the fact that these people are normal. They don't belong alone with their face blown up supersize. They belong with everyone else. Also, while I loved the collage artwork on the article, I thought it odd that they didn't show any actual disfigurements when they talked so much about how exposing people to it is beneficial.