Towards a better understanding of the social stigma of facial difference

Only human after all? a pre-registered study on gaze behavior and humanity attributions to people with facial difference

“…Thus, future research should also consider using measures other than those consisting of attributing characteristics (for a complete review of dehumanization-related measures, see [ 30 ]). Since people with FD are stigmatized [ 1 ] and automatic strong stigma reactions can be lowered by more controlled reactions [ 31 ], a special interest should be given to the measures allowing the investigation of dehumanization at an earlier stage of processing. More generally, measures to circumvent the social desirability bias would be advisable.…”

“…People living with a facial difference (FD; also known as “facial disfigurement”) are stigmatized [ 1 ], which leads them to feel dehumanized (i.e., denied a full humanness status; [ 2 ]). Indeed, they report feeling like they are not treated akin to their nonvisibly different counterparts (e.g., [ 3 ]).…”

Breaking the silence: A qualitative exploration of parental perspectives of children with Goldenhar Syndrome

“…Discrimination is expressed through attitudes and behaviour, including social challenges and lower expectations at school and the workplace [ 40 ]. These social challenges and stigma can have a debilitating impact [ [41] , [42] , [43] ]. Changing Faces recognize these barriers and fought to get face equality into the National Curriculum [ 44 ], and they created classroom resources such as Wonder and A World of Difference [ 45 ].…”

Social rejection and meaning-making in young people with facial dermatological differences.

“…Older definitions have emphasized the individual and their biomedical features, such as scars or wounds (Harcourt & Rumsey, 2008). More recent definitions have aimed to emphasize the gaze of the other and the centrality of social context, such as "a face whose characteristics make it deviate significantly from what an individual who perceives it expects from a normal human face" (Rasset et al, 2022). In the United Kingdom, it is estimated that approximately 1.3 million people are affected by a significant visible difference, and of those, nearly 600,000 individuals have a facial difference (Changing Faces, 2023).…”

“…Evolutionary theories such as mate selection and parental investment theories (Langlois et al, 2000), and social theories that focus on prominent social attributions such as the “what is beautiful is good” stereotype (Dion et al, 1972) and the “anomalous is bad” theory (Workman et al, 2021), suggest that people with a visible difference will be negatively viewed which has been supported by a sizeable body of research exploring the stigma of visible difference (Rasset et al, 2022).…”