Children, research and hope for the future
Representation is very important when it comes to raising awareness for conditions such as Vitiligo, it is very essential to society and those living with Vitiligo. It is powerful to those living with Vitiligo because it gives them a sense of belonging, it shows that society has come to a point where it tries to be inclusive, whatever
condition you are living with, we learn to embrace one another. So as the community of people living with Vitiligo we are lobbying society to create a platform of acceptance for those living with Vitiligo, beginning with children, and it’s apt to this year’s international theme “Children, research and hope for the future.”
It is very exciting to see the awareness of Vitiligo progressing through the new movement of dolls with Vitiligo which has stirred public interest, for a very long time awareness in children has been neglected or rather people didn’t know where to start with it, that’s why we’ve been having an issue of old people recovering from their childhood. I commend the people who gave birth to this movement, they formed an initiative that is going to make kids feel content in their skin tones, it is also going to give birth to self-love in kids, and low self-esteem will be a rumor. The movement is yet to be launched, and already it has caused excitement on social media. Social media has been a very powerful tool in endorsing the movement, and as well in educating about Vitiligo, it shows that awareness becomes greater when the platform is given to anyone and everyone. When those dolls make it to the kids’ stores, hopefully, every parent will purchase it for their kids, whether the kids have Vitiligo or not, those dolls are not exclusively for kids with Vitiligo, they are generally for every kid. Kids must be familiar with such conditions; they will learn that beauty comes in different skin tones hence embracing each other. We must raise the generation of kids who are very understanding of other people’s conditions and indeed society shall see a better future.
This movement is incredible; a movement many of us looked for when we were still battling with accepting our skin tones, at least it came at a juncture where Vitiligo is no longer rare like back in the days. Let us all be ambassadors of movements like this one, many kids drowning in self-pity, battling with self-acceptance will discover themselves and they will blossom. The community of people living with Vitiligo will forever remain grateful towards the people who established the movement; this movement has placed us on a prominent scale and our work of raising awareness has become simpler. Representation really does matter; this movement has played a pivotal role in bringing Vitiligo closer to the people
