Changing perceptions towards visible differences

As children, we start engaging in social comparisons and making self-evaluations and judgments about others way before we really understand emotions or learn to string our first sentences together in a meaningful way. We learn what's good and what's bad, what's ugly and what's attractive, from other's reactions and the tales and stories we're told and the books that we read. At this very young age, we're also socialised into a culture of associating heroes with goodness and attractiveness and villains with evil and scars.

Whilst we're living in an era where social media reinforces beliefs about attractiveness, beauty, and normality, discrimination, and prejudice for those who deviate from the norm existed long before the invention of the internet or films.

The notion that visible differences are associated with all manner of psychological malfunctions has a long and erroneous history and perpetuated by films, fairy tales, and stories, where 'bad' or ‘evil’ people are frequently portrayed by characters with a visible disability or disfigurement such as Freddy Kreuger, The Joker, Michael from Lucifer and Kylo Ren in Star Wars. It creates strong emotions in people to associate with the good (i.e., visible norms) and desire the demise of evil that we feel an away from (i.e., scars, burns, marks).

Fearing what's different, unusual, or challenging, and judged to be ugly, disgusting, or evil can breed ignorance, contempt, blame, and hate in some circumstances, and create negative consequences for those with unwanted acquired or congenital visible differences who are on the receiving end of these responses.

'I Am Not Your Villain: Equal representation of the visible difference in film' is a current campaign headed by the UK visible difference charity Changing faces.

The campaign is calling on the film industry to "stop using scars, burns, marks, and other visible differences as a shorthand for villainy."

The first organisation to sign up the campaign was the British Film Institute (BFI) who have committed to stop funding films that associate/feature evil with scars or facial difference.

Ben Roberts. Film Fund Director at the BFI. was quoted as saying:

"Film has such a powerful influence on society, it enables us to see the world in new ways, enriches lives, and can make a vital contribution to our wellbeing. It also is a catalyst for change and that is why we are committing to not having negative representations depicted through scars or facial differences in the films we fund [...] The time has come for this to stop.

Decades of research and anecdotal narratives highlight the detrimental effects this has for those who have no choice but to live in a society where the way they look somehow predefines their ability to function psychosocially. Having a visible difference in no way signifies detriment in our moral character or intelligence and this is a great start to making a difference in the lives of those who live with daily challenges of being visibly different.