What success looks like

People with facial disfigurement often experience discrimination in the workplace. Research carried out here at UEL and published in 2012 (Stone & Wright) found that declaring a facial disfigurement reduced the chances of being called for interview for a job requiring a high degree of customer contact. This was not apparent for a job with little customer contact. For comparison, declaring oneself to be a wheelchair user reduced the chances of being called for interview for a range of jobs regardless of the level of customer contact.

This is consistent with other observations that an individual with a facial disfigurement receives lower evaluations in areas such as social skills and confidence and a range of work-related competencies (e.g., Stone & Wright) .

 

The charitable and campaigning organisation Changing Faces have launched a campaign “what success looks like” which aims to boost the self-confidence of people with facial disfigurement applying for jobs and to raise employers expectations. You can read about the campaign here if you are interested. People with facial disfigurement are encouraged to write in with their stories, so if you know of anyone who might be interested to contribute their story please do ask them to have a look at the Changing Faces website.  

 

Anna Stone