Changing Misconceptions
Brenda Finn, a charity ambassador who lives in Hastings is speaking out to encourage more people to respect and celebrate differences.
Brenda volunteers for Changing Faces, the UK’s leading charity for anyone with a scar, mark or condition that affects their appearance. It provides mental health, wellbeing and skin camouflage services. It also works to develop understanding and acceptance of visible difference, and campaign to reduce prejudice and discrimination.
Nearly one in five adults self-identify as having a visible difference such as a scar, mark or other condition. At least 1.3 million children, young people and adults in the UK are estimated to have significant disfigurements, including 569,000 with facial disfigurements.
In a recent poll, sampling over 1,500 UK adults, more than three-fifths (61%) of respondents agreed that they would like to see more people with visible differences represented in popular culture, while only a third of adults could recall seeing someone with a visible difference on TV, and more often seeing them playing a victim, rather than a hero.
There’s still a harmful stigma attached to having a visible difference or disfigurement. In November 2022 the BBC had to apologise after popular quiz show, Only Connect, described scars as ‘marks of shame’.
This week, 15-19 May, is a global time of action: Face Equality Week. Whilst brands, businesses, and broadcasters struggle to catch up, Changing Faces volunteer campaigners and ambassadors, including Brenda, and fellow members of the Face Equality International Alliance, are making their presence felt. They’re saying ‘This Is Me’ and striving to become the role models they, and many of the public, want to see more of.
Brenda, who has the condition alopecia universalis, which meant that she lost all of her hair at a young age, explains: “As an actor, I’m offered many roles as a villain or a sci-fi character, but very rarely do I get asked to play anything else. I’d love to be part of the positive representation movement for visible differences on screen, but producers and directors need to be willing to embrace this for me to do so.
“Stigma around difference is imprinted on society. To break it, we need to be seen and heard. Let us be the romantic interest, the comedic best friend or the hero. We’re not just villains or people with a traumatic backstory to be pitied.
“The current lack of representation is damaging for everyone. It tells all of society that you have to be a particular way to be loved or successful, and that can’t be allowed to continue. Difference is what makes us interesting, so let’s show the entire range of society on screen.”
The latest research into the views of the public about people with visible differences and representations across popular culture, has also found that 37% of respondents think that adults with a visible difference may experience difficulty in doing things that they enjoy, like hobbies or sports, whilst 35% think that adults with a visible difference may experience people having low expectations of their abilities.
The British Film Institute has been an advocate of better representation of visible difference for some years. In 2018 the BFI committed to not having negative representations depicted through scars or facial difference in the films it funds. Following the Only Connect incident, Changing Faces has asked the BBC to follow suit and make a similar commitment to that made by the British Film Institute.
Brenda adds: “Seeing positive role models is hugely important when so many sections of society are telling you that you don’t fit. Broadcasters have a role to play, but we can all do our bit too, by recognising that differences should be celebrated and respected.”
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