ABSTRACT
This is an enquiry into the widespread and often, as I hope to show, culturally sanctioned, and perhaps even culturally fomented, negative judgements and evaluations that people make of other people whose appearance is disfigured. It arises from my ongoing work with children in schools seeking better ideas about what to do-what to ask policymakers, school leaders, and class teachers to do-to make life better for a child or young person who has a condition, injury, or illness that affects the way they look. Many well-intentioned and sensible-seeming interventions, such as giving a talk, asking children not to stare, or punishing children who tease and bully, turn out not to be much help and may even make things worse.
