In your younger years, children can prove to be really cruel. Bullying is a very serious issue that, unfortunately, lots of children and teenagers have to deal with every day.
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Born with Sturge-Weber Syndrome
Tessa Schiethart is one of the many children who was bullied as a child. She was born with Sturge-Weber Syndrome which caused blindness in one eye and anenormous birthmark that covered part of her face and left her subject to merciless bullying by her peers. Tessa even once decided to try and have it removed with medical assistance. She told Barcroft TV:
When I was six we stopped laser treatment because my eyes became more important and there was high eye pressure and we needed to lower it in order to keep my left eye from becoming blind as well. Losing sight has always been my biggest fear.
However, the treatments she had didn’t work and even made things worse. But nowadays, she feels beautiful and doesn’t care about the mark on her face at all. Tessa decided it was time to share her story and it quickly ended up going viral on social media. Tessa continued:
I chose not to spent two hours of my morning in front of a mirror putting on a mask of chemical make-up to cover my stain so that ‘society’ would accept me and I would fit some 'standard of normalcy'. I did try it, twice, but I didn’t recognize myself at all without my stain, and that was such a weird distorted feeling.
'To Face The World'
It is important to accept that we’re all difficult and that our little differences don’t make us any less attractive, rather the opposite. In fact, true beauty lies in those little differences.
After such a difficult childhood, that is the message that Tessa wanted to spread. She has now learned to accept herself as she is and is a lot happier nowadays. Tessa has also dedicated herself to helping othersand studies Organisational Science where is currently investigating how people's different looks can affect their chances at job interviews.
Tessa has also started the 'To Face The World' campaign on social media where she sets out to promote a difference in organisations and society, with the goal of bringing awareness to people's physical differences, changing the way the world views diversity and inspiring people to be themselves.
Don’t forget to check out the video above to see Tessa and find her full story.
