Facts for the media

Nearly one in five people across the UK self-identify as having a visible difference such as a mark, scar or 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.

On this page, you will find some key visible difference and disfigurement facts, highlighting the impact of a condition, mark or scar on people’s lives. We hope these help journalists to ensure media coverage is accurate, sensitive and non-discriminatory.

All the information is taken from research commissioned by Changing Faces.

The impact on people’s lives

Health and wellbeing

• Nearly one in four people say that they feel depressed, sad or anxious as a result of having a visible difference.
• Over a quarter say they feel self-conscious or embarrassed going out in public as a result of their visible difference.
• Almost a third of people have been stared at because of their visible difference.

Hostile behaviour and hate crime

• Almost half of people have experienced hostile behaviour because of their visible difference.
• A third of people with a visible difference have experienced a hate crime.
• Of those people who experienced a hate crime, more than two in ten did not report it.

Discrimination in the workplace

• Over a third of people say they have been discriminated against in job applications because of their appearance.
• A quarter of people say they have been stared at in the workplace because of their visible difference.
• A third of those who have a job say that their employers have not been effective in preventing discrimination against them in the workplace.

School

• Almost half of young people experienced bullying about their appearance at school.
• The vast majority – nearly 90% – say their primary school did not succeed in stopping the bullying.
• 75% did not feel supported by their primary school. 84% did not feel supported by their secondary school.

Representation

• More than three-fifths of people would like to see more people with visible differences represented in popular culture.
• More than four in ten people say they would have a more positive view of a brand if they saw people with visible differences represented by them.
• Over half say that people with visible differences are regularly ignored by brands.
• Over a quarter of people say they are regularly ignored by shop assistants and receive bad service because of their visible difference.

Our research

Our research underpins our key campaigns and is conducted by independent companies, including surveys with people who self-identify as having a visible difference. Read our published reports and summaries using the links below:

• Research by Savanta on discrimination (April 2023)
• Research by Focaldata on representation (May 2023)
• My Visible Difference report (May 2019)
• Looking Different: The Future of Face Equality (May 2018)
• Respecting Difference (November 2018)
• Disfigurement in the UK (May 2017)

Two of our media spokespeople, Adam and Tulsi