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Coronavirus

20th May 2020

Abused for my face: Lockdown has been respite from strangers’ stares

Rich Cooper

‘I didn’t want another day of people calling me names’

For the vast majority of people in the United Kingdom, the idea of lockdown lifting and us finally being able to go out and about is one which fills us with optimism.

The idea of seeing family and friends again, of walking down the street and sitting in the park feeling and breathing in the fresh air. It’ll be nice.

But for some people with visible difference, the lockdown has been a welcome respite from the stares and oft-times cruel words of strangers on the street.

We spoke to a number of people with visible difference about their experience of lockdown, their reservations and worries about society reopening, and how perhaps people might be a little kinder now that they know how it feels to have a stranger cross the road when you approach them.