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Item 8 Motion 2 That's
Councillors Ennis and Airlie

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Nicholson.

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Do we have any amendments to
this?

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No, Councillor Ennis.

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Thanks.

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OK, I'll start off with my
story.

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I was 15 years old and it was
Boxing Day.

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I was walking home past the
local pub and a fight broke out

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from the pub into the street.

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I've always been bigger for my
age and someone thought I was

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part of the on going scrap and
unfortunately I was impaled in

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the face with a pint glass.

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I ended up with 27 stitches on
my face inside and also inside

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my mouth.

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I've been left with a permanent
disfigurement in my face as a

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result of this assault that took
place to me 21 years ago.

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I asked people to ponder these
questions.

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Have you ever been followed
around a shop because you look

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dodgy?

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Have you ever gone to a job
interview and being asked what

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happened?

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How you got that scar on your
face?

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Have you ever looked in the
mirror at your face every single

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day and been reminded of an
assault that took place?

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Have you ever been speaking to
someone and you see their eyes

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moving away from eye contact
with you and having a peek at

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your face?

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Have your facial features ever
been vilified and basically

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every single role has ever
depicted them?

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I could go on and on and on, but
no.

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I've gone to see my GP about
this issue years back.

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Purely out of curiosity, I asked
the doctor what support was

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available for me.

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I was told that I could perhaps
wear makeup or skin camouflage.

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I asked about scar reduction
treatment or plastic surgery and

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was told that was not funded by
the NHS for my circumstances.

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So at that point I was like OK,
surely there must be some sort

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of support available for
innocent people who have been

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slashed.

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So I Google it, do my research
etcetera, because at this point

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I'm not even thinking about my
own issue any more, but it is an

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overall issue for people.

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I came across the the charity
Changing Faces.

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They are a charity set up for
people with facial

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disfigurements and the only
organisation in Scotland I can

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find doing any sort of work on
this.

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Changing Faces focuses on facial
disfigurements such as cleft

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lips, rare diseases that cause
disfigurement of the face and

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other issues.

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They've always been very helpful
and they do offer skin

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camouflage to victims of
slashing assaults.

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For me though, that's not
enough.

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I don't really want skin
camouflage, I just want to be

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treated equally with a scar on
my face.

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I would say, however, that face
equality is quality and the

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Changing Faces do excellent
work.

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Victims Support Scotland have
also been very empathetic to the

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situation and they've encouraged
me to take this issue forward in

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any meetings I've had with them,
as they do not provide the

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specific support that this
motion asks for.

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Also, at this point, I'd like to
thank John Traynor and his team.

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Listening to me over the last
year and assisting me in shaping

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this motion that we've got

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today.

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People always say to me, your
scar isn't that bad and that's

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annoying by the way, But I get
that my scar's  like a zigzaggy

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one from, from a pint glass and
there's no slash from a knife.

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So that makes me think that
people in that situation must

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get it even rougher than me, you
know, So moving away from my

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experience, I truly believe that
this support being in place will

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help people.

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It's taken me a very, very long
time to talk about this

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publicly.

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This is the first time in a
public forum that I've ever

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spoke about this.

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And I can talk to a room full of
people, I can do that, no

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bother, but other people can't,
you know, So it is a very, very

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difficult thing to speak about.

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So a lot of men and women in
Renfrewshire who have gone

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through the trauma that comes
with facial scarring in their

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own way and if their own way to
overcome the barriers it brings.

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And I hope that the council can
agree to this motion today for

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those victims.

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Then I'll just finish off and
I'll say. People have lots of

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different problems and it's hard
to put yourself in somebody's

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shoes at times.

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Empathy is a very powerful
weapon if you can use it

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correctly, all you can be judge
mental and live life on a first

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impression basis.

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I like to choose the first way
and I if I can show people even

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a glimpse today of what it feels
like to have a scar on your

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face, you would understand why
this issue is so important.

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Thank you.

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Thanks.

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Thank you very much.

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Councillor Airlie Nicholson.
Thank you.

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I sat for the past few days
looking up different things and

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what do the professionals say
about the impact of facial

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scaring. I have experienced in
terms of working in youth

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homeless services probably for
too many years.

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I don't want to mention how many
of that is, but it's very, very

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common to see young people who
come through these services

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whose whose futures are blighted
by the impact of others actions

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upon them.

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I've listened to Councillor
Innes here and his heartfelt

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plead to people not to go on
first impressions and make those

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judgements really, really
important.

bbfe125d-7c74-4502-8722-482b4e0d267f-0
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I had written up something to
say here, but there's absolutely

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nothing that I could say that
would give you any better

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insight in relation to what's
just been spoken about by

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Councillor, Councillor Innes.

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So for that reason I'm not going
to say any more in terms of that

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and just ask you to support the
motion.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Councillor Ailey Nicholson.

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I, I was really happy to see
this, Robert, this motion.

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And you know the reason for
that.

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I've already emailed you to tell
you. My own brother was the

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victim of a knife attack and he
was literally just out of school

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helping someone who was fleeing
domestic violence with a child

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in their arms. Only yards from
his own home.

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He was going to a party with his
friends and they stopped to help

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this, this lady.

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And he's had to live with the
consequences of that night for

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his life.

fefcc081-f94c-4c17-b89c-add56cef10fc-0
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He's he would kill me for for
not remembering his age, but I

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think he's 53 now.

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But when you consider that he's
had to live with that for over

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40 years with all of the the
stigmas attached to facial

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scaring, it's not been easy.

7aa29e5e-7940-4b5f-8e5f-ed23dcb3a4d7-0
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I think he's at an age now where
he has learned to accept that

7aa29e5e-7940-4b5f-8e5f-ed23dcb3a4d7-1
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that's just the way that people
are.

8e971f4f-5bdd-4a37-9653-50db0ba7c367-0
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But it really shouldn't be the
way that people are.

250c0b59-1eb4-4747-9557-d5d44e1b770d-0
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You know, sometimes he said, I
wish folk would just ask me what

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had happened to me instead of
assuming that I had been a

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00:06:46.266 --> 00:06:49.040
criminal and involved in a fight
somewhere.

f2fe11de-5a1c-4ed5-ac05-a610c72794fc-0
00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:53.656
So for personal reasons, I was
really, really happy to see this

f2fe11de-5a1c-4ed5-ac05-a610c72794fc-1
00:06:53.656 --> 00:06:57.752
and, and I sympathise with you,
Robert, because I have personal

f2fe11de-5a1c-4ed5-ac05-a610c72794fc-2
00:06:57.752 --> 00:06:58.840
experience of it.

fee397d1-3971-4938-b68b-0fa7dedf228c-0
00:06:59.080 --> 00:07:02.880
And I know how tough life has
been for you at times.

71318b23-9c72-4ed6-a403-7170ee904d7f-0
00:07:03.320 --> 00:07:06.127
And to these that in this
chamber is just wonderful for

71318b23-9c72-4ed6-a403-7170ee904d7f-1
00:07:06.127 --> 00:07:09.036
all the young people who are
going to face the exact same

71318b23-9c72-4ed6-a403-7170ee904d7f-2
00:07:09.036 --> 00:07:10.440
preasures as you have faced.

8e564600-da40-4c21-a8b9-fbe7040b4fc8-0
00:07:10.440 --> 00:07:11.760
So thank you so much.

98b64651-b036-46bd-ab45-d9339bb780ab-0
00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:16.485
We don't have anybody else want
to ask questions or speak, so

98b64651-b036-46bd-ab45-d9339bb780ab-1
00:07:16.485 --> 00:07:20.120
we'll just ask for people to
agree this wonderful motion.