Face Equality International

#FaceEqualityWeek is here! Our incredible member organisations shared about why we’re campaigning for Face Equality in hospitality and service settings, and the importance of the #SeenAndServed campaign. Here’s a sneak peak at what they had to say. We’re looking forward to sharing more with you from each organisation over the week! We’d love you to also get involved in Seen And Served by sharing your own experiences and reasons for supporting. Stay tuned for more! Organisations featured: @yuzumlemutluyum @aboutfacecanada @FacesCraniofacialAssociation @caringmattersnow @phoenixsociety Center for Ichthyosis Related Members Foundation @smiletrain @betcs.cz @sunshine.org.tw @ccakids Video description: Text on screen reads: “International Face Equality Week 2026. Ensuring everyone is Seen And Served. See Me, Serve Me”. Clips show people both with and without facial differences from around the world of varying ethnicities, genders and ages. Each speaks directly to camera. End clip features the Face Equality International logo and stickers that read “Join in with Seen And Served! International Face Equality Week 2026”, “How can I help you?”, “Serving Face Equality”, “A worldwide movement” and “See Me Serve Me” Stickers feature emoji style faces with facial differences such as a facial scar, birthmark and cleft lip. #InternationalFaceEqualityWeek #IFEW26 #FacialDifference

We thought we’d reintroduce ourselves! Did you know FEI is a small charity? We’ve had a flurry of new followers recently, and as the Face Equality movement continues to grow, we wanted to fill you in on how we started and what we’re all about. As an alliance, we’re connecting and equipping those providing vital services so no one works in isolation. FEI fundraises to deliver our programmes, to change the way the world sees facial difference. If you would like to support our growing network, you can donate as a one-off or on a monthly basis via our website. You can also help by sharing this post to help us spread the message of our work! We’re stronger together. #FaceEquality #FacialDifference #VisibleDifference #FEI #Inclusion #SocialJustice

We’re updating our messaging! As part of our new strategy we’ve updated our vision and mission at FEI. Same core values, honing in on what we’re striving for. We know that advocacy can be lonely and overwhelming at times. That’s why we build capacity as an alliance, centred on our collective goal of Face Equality for all. It’s not only about being clear on what challenges are being faced and what needs to change, but also holding firm in the idea that better is possible. A safer, more inclusive world free from barriers. We’re building it together. Learn more about our new strategy via our website! Photo credits: image 1: @sephorauk image 2: Rick Guidotti @positiveexposure Image description: Image 1: Chalkboard background with yellow text that reads: “A global alliance for face equality”. The Face Equality International logo is shown along with a group photo showing a range of people of different ages, genders and ethnicities with facial differences. Everyone is smiling. Image 2: White background with highlighted text that reads: “Our vision”. Smaller black text reads: “a world free of barriers, where people with facial differences are thriving and proud to be themselves”. An illustration of an open door is shown, as well as a group photo showing a range of people of different ages, genders and ethnicities with facial differences. Everyone is huddled closely together and smiling/laughing. Image 3: White background with highlighted text that reads: “Our mission”. Smaller black text reads: “We work together, to ensure the global facial difference community is seen, protected and respected”. An illustrated megaphone is shown, as well as line illustrations of various different people, including people of varying ages, genders and ethnicities with different facial differences. #FaceEquality #FEI #FacialDifference #VisibleDifference #SocialJustice #Inclusion #Community

Help us fuel The Fight for Face Equality! #InternationalFaceEqualityWeek 2026 may be coming to an end, but the fight is here to stay. This week we’ve been campaigning to ensure everyone is #SeenAndServed with dignity and respect in hospitality and service settings regardless of their appearance. That doesn’t end today. We will continue working as a global alliance of organisations, until #FaceEquality is a reality for everyone, everywhere, in every space. Your donation to Face Equality International allows us to continue this work. Every donation, no matter how small, all adds up. You can give once or maximise the impact and sign up for The Fight - our monthly giving programme. Thank you to everyone that has helped amplify the Seen And Served campaign so far. We’re stronger together! Photos on slides 1 and 3 by @KindfulCreative Image descriptions in alt text and pinned comment. #IFEW2026 #FacialDifference

What does it take to build a truly inclusive society? Every single individual should have the chance to be treated equally. Together we can foster a community where every voice is heard and respected. We all want to be #SeenAndServed and treated with dignity. Unfortunately for the facial difference community this is not always reality. Something simple like grabbing a coffee or dining out can result in unpleasant interactions, stares and comments. Let’s change that. Here our member organisations Center for Ichthyosis Related Members Foundation and @FacesCraniofacialAssociation share what the #SeenAndServed campaign means to them! Clips from Center for Ichthyosis Related Members Foundation Founder Christina Raj and FACES National Craniofacial Association Communications Specialist Liz Adams. Christina is an Indian lady, born with a rare genetic skin condition Harlequin, ARCI, EI Ichthyosis which makes her skin dry and scaly. She has visual challenges so wears glasses to protect from light and glare, and is wearing a grey dress. Liz is a young woman with a facial difference and shoulder length brown hair. She is wearing a white blouse and is sitting at her kitchen counter. End clip features the Face Equality International logo and stickers that read “Join in with Seen And Served! International Face Equality Week 2026”, “How can I help you?”, “Serving Face Equality”, “A worldwide movement” and “See Me Serve Me” Stickers feature emoji style faces with facial differences such as a facial scar, birthmark and cleft lip. #IFEW26 #FacialDifference #FaceEquality #InternationalFaceEqualityWeek

90% of people believe beauty advisors should be trained on Face Equality. It’s time we made that a reality. @prisha_bathia ’s experiences in beauty spaces show why inclusive service matters. That's why @faceequalityint and @SephoraUK are rolling out face equality training across Sephora UK stores. Because, everyone deserves to feel seen, served, and celebrated in the beauty space. Video description: Prisha is shown walking around and shopping in a beauty store. Clips also show Prisha interacting with a beauty advisor, talking, looking at products, having products applied and making a purchase. #FaceEquality #IFEW2026 #InternationalFaceEqualityWeek #FacialDifference #SeenAndServed

It’s Face Equality Week, and this year’s theme is Seen and Served — making sure people with facial differences are treated with dignity and respect in retail and hospitality settings. Today I’m focusing on hospitality: restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels and live music venues. I’ve had staff seat me facing away from windows or other diners — as though my face might “put people off” their meal. (Though sometimes I choose quieter seating myself to avoid stares and comments.) Staff have spoken to the person I’m with instead of asking for my order, assuming I can’t communicate. I’ve also experienced ableism and appearance-based discrimination from other patrons while venue staff didn’t know how to respond — perhaps because appearance discrimination isn’t recognised in the same way as other forms of harassment. Here are some ways hospitality staff can create more welcoming spaces for people with facial differences: - Say hello. - Look at us, smile, don’t look away. - Don’t ignore us or pretend we aren’t there. - Don’t deliberately seat us facing away from other diners. - Don’t be afraid to touch our hands when exchanging money or items. - Don’t ask intrusive questions like “what happened to you?” or offer unsolicited treatment advice. - Ask about dietary requirements or access needs — but don’t make assumptions based on appearance. - Treat us like any other customer: speak directly to us and take our order. - Don’t whisper or snigger behind our backs. - Respond respectfully if we raise concerns about discrimination. - Recognise what discrimination looks like by following people with facial differences on social media. Please check out the Face Equality International resources and consider signing the Seen and Served pledge. faceequalityinternational.org/seen-and-served-pledge/ Your job in hospitality is to serve us — not interrogate our diagnoses, medical history or appearance. I’m pictured here at my favourite Melbourne restaurant, Chocolate Buddha. I’m always treated with kindness and respect there, and it’s accessible for disabled diners too. They’ve signed the Face Equality pledge, which makes me so happy 💛 ID in comments.

Let’s ensure everyone is #SeenAndServed with dignity and respect, together. In the 12 months to April 2026 alone, 10% of UK adults with a facial difference have been subjected to unwelcome behaviour about their facial difference in an eating/drinking establishment, and 12% have experienced unwelcome comments or questions in a shop. Our Seen And Served campaign is about ensuring everyone has a seat at the table. Our workplace training is delivered by experts with lived experience, answering questions, providing insight and information, and offering tips and resources to empower your team. Learn more via the link in our bio. Photo by @KindfulCreative ID: Image 1: Text reads: ‘Ensure everyone is Seen And Served with our Face Equality workplace training. Seen And Served, International Face Equality Week”. Stickers read “Serving face equality”, “inclusivity is our bag”, “See Me, Serve Me”. Emoji style faces shown with a birthmark, facial scar and cleft lip. Image 2: Text reads: “According to our recent Face Facts survey, 18% of adults with a facial difference in the UK have avoided going to a restaurant, bar, pub, café hotel or nightclub because of their facial difference.” Image 3: Text reads: “Our workplace training programme empowers and equips businesses. Learn how/when to show support, what is the right terminology to use, how does a facial difference affect someone?”. Photo shows two women, one with alopecia, sitting down talking to each other over a small café table. Image 4: Text reads: “Our in person and virtual training sessions are delivered by experts with lived experience of facial difference”. FEI training attendee quote reads: “It’s not something we think about day-to-day but it reflects the unconscious biases we carry. This training really opened my eyes to the stigma and the impact they have on people’s lives”. Image 5: Text reads: “Let’s ensure everyone is Seen And Served with dignity and respect. Together. Sign up for our Face Equality workplace training today”. Stickers read “Cheers to being seen”, “Not invisible, never was”, “giving everyone a seat at the table”. #FaceEquality #InternationalFaceEqualityWeek #IFEW2026 #FacialDifference

Everyone should be #SeenAndServed with dignity across hospitality and service settings. And yet individuals in the facial difference community are having varying different experiences across the sector. We want to ensure everyone is having positive experiences, and being respected, valued and included in everyday life. Organisations and individuals in the facial and visible difference communities are patrons of the hospitality and service industries the same as anyone else. Here our member organisations @betcs.cz @smiletrain and @ccakids share what the Seen And Served campaign means to them! Video description: Clips from BeTCS Renáta Šťastná, Smile Train Community Development Manager Stephanie, and Children’s Craniofacial Association Executive Director Erica. Renáta is a woman with brown hair tied in a bun, who is going through TSW. She is wearing a comfortable burgundy t-shirt adjusted so that she can have bare shoulders and is sitting on a chair. Stephanie is a white woman with long brown hair and a cleft lip, wearing a black shirt. Erica is a white woman in her 40s with her dark hair pulled back and wearing white cat-eye glasses with a pink shirt and black puffer jacket. She has facial asymmetry. End clip features the Face Equality International logo and stickers that read “Join in with Seen And Served! International Face Equality Week 2026”, “How can I help you?”, “Serving Face Equality”, “A worldwide movement” and “See Me Serve Me” Stickers feature emoji style faces with facial differences such as a facial scar, birthmark and cleft lip. #IFEW26 #FacialDifference #FaceEquality #InternationalFaceEqualityWeek

It’s Face Equality Week and the theme is Seen and Served - ensuring people with a facial difference are treated with dignity and respect in retail and hospitality settings. I love to shop. I’d do it every day if I was millionaire. But it’s not always easy because of retail staff’s reaction to my skin condition and facial difference. I often measure how I’m treated by how they treat a customer without a facial difference - and it’s not the same. Because I’m asked unwanted questions about what happened to my face, offered unsolicited advice, ignored, stared at, and have been given a lesser customer service experience than I’d like. Sometimes I think retail staff don’t believe that someone who looks like me would be interested in fashion or take pride in how I look. Fortunately these days, I’ve built quite a following because of my advocacy work and love for fashion that I don’t get as many stares and comments about my face, nor am I discriminated against very often. But when it happens, it is a day ruiner. Here are ways retail staff can be more welcoming and respectful of people with facial differences: - Say Hello (I hear that’s a great book!). - Look at us. Smile. Don’t look away. - Don’t ignore us or pretend we aren’t there. - Don’t ask questions about our appearance like “what happened to you?”, “are you sunburnt?” or give unsolicited advice like “have you tried X treatment?”. - Don’t be scared to touch us when we exchange money. - Treat us like you’d treat any other customer - ask how you can help us, get us the items we ask for, compliment us when we walk out the changing rooms. - Don’t whisper and snigger behind our backs. We are used to this, we can sense when it’s happening. - Respond to any complaints made, and don’t get defensive when we speak up if we have been treated badly. - Check out the Face Equality International website for great resources about how to engage with people with facial differences, and sign the Seen and Served pledge. Remember that your job as retail staff is to serve us in a store, not to know our diagnoses, medical history or offer unwanted advice. ID in comment.

Our 2025 survey showed that over 21% of people with a facial difference have received unsolicited comment(s) from other customers or passers-by. Let’s change that. Watch the video for tips on being a face equality ally from our Community and Partnerships Manager Matilda @barbieinthecity___ Did you know @SephoraUK MySephora members can also show their support for the face equality movement by redeeming 100 MySephora points for a £5 donation to @faceequalityint . Video description: Matilda, a white woman with copper hair and a cleft lip talks directly to camera, she is walking around a Sephora beauty store. #FaceEquality #IFEW2026 #InternationalFaceEqualityWeek #FacialDifference #SeenAndServed

We’ve launched a brand new resource! When you go to a pub, cafe or restaurant, what’s on your mind? “What shall I have to eat?” “Will they have spare tables?” “Will they ask me what happened to my face or refuse to serve me?” Sadly, if you have a facial difference, it might sometimes be the latter. Thanks to the support of our pro bono partner, our new guides are here to help explain your rights in hospitality spaces, with more jurisdictions to follow these initial 7. Our #SeenAndServed campaign is working to build a world where you won’t need these guides. Where everyone is seen with dignity, served with respect, and made to feel welcome. While we work on that together, these guides are here to help. Please share to help us get the word out about this new resource! Read the guides via our link in bio. Image descriptions: in alt text and pinned comment. #FaceEquality #InternationalFaceEqualityWeek #IFEW2026 #FacialDifference