A lot of people ask for awareness and support for people who have cancer or aids or MS. Don't get me wrong on this, I do think these are terrible conditions and have lost people with cancer, know people who have defeated it and people who live with MS. Strangely enough, quite a lot of people turn away with people who -look- very sick. Sure, we understand people with a brace or a cast or who sit in a weelchair but when people look normal apart from their skin... they're treated like filth. Next time you're out on the street, have a look around and try to locate those who have more freckles than what is expected to be 'normal' or people who have a birth mark in their face. Just the advice: just look once but you'll probably see in their eyes that they're not comfortable with your gaze.
How I know all of this? Well, I have a skin condition and have been treated like a piece of filth. It's even come so far that I tend to apologize for my appearance or the severeness of my condition when it flares up. A lot of people actually have psoriasis but most of them have it on their knees and elbows or in their hair which can be easily hidden. According to my mom, 'normal' wasn't printed in my dictionary and I guess she's right because I have a not so common version as I have it in my face and on the back of my hands which isn't so common according to my dermatologist. A few weeks ago, I caught myself smiling when I saw someone at a festival who had it too and didn't hide it. I can assure you that those people who can hide it will try their best to do so, even if it takes them to wear long sleeves all summer long. Sometimes I do wish I could do this but I can't as I have it all over my body. You can't come up with a spot where I don't have it, I dare you.
The reason I'm writing this is to ask for awareness for those who actually look diferent and wish they weren't so unique. Twenty years ago, in the month of August, I found a little spot on my knee and it has been around all this time. Apart from the rare few months that my dermatologist wanted to try a new treatment, I can't remember what it was like to have a clear skin since I was only nine years old twenty years ago.
My best experience with a six year old who didn't know what I had was this:
Kiddie: what's wrong with your face?
Me: oh it's just a bit ill, dear
Kiddie: ok... I've got pigtails!
I could share quite the opposite sort of stories but I reckon you can all imagine how cruel people can be. So for my twentieth psoriasis anniversary, I just want to ask you to think of people like me when you're worried about a pimple on your face, when you see someone with a bad skin or when your children or grandchildren want to know what's wrong with the person behind you in the line at the supermarket.
Lizzie
