‘World's Ugliest Woman’: Stop staring Start Learning

When searching for something the write about online I came across the story of Lizzie Velasquez. Lizzie was born with a rare medical condition (so rare only 2 other people in the world might have it) where she does not have any adipose tissue or fat cells. This means she cannot store or build muscle or gain weight. Lizzie was born at 2 pounds 10 ounces and was expected not to survive. Her parent explained that Lizzie had to wear doll clothes for the first couple months of her life because newborn baby clothes were too big. The doctors did not think Lizzie would ever be able to walk, talk or live a normal life but now at 23 Lizzie is beating the odds. She cannot store nutrients so she has to eat about every 20 minutes to have enough energy to get through the day. She is a mere 60 pounds with zero percent body fat. Lizzie is far more prone to injury because she has no muscle, even things such as walking can cause stress fractures in her feet. When Lizzie was in high school, which is a very insecure time for most adolescence especially if you are ‘different’, her classmates made a YouTube video nominating her the ‘Ugliest Woman in the world.’ I can’t imagine how horrible and humiliating that must have felt. The comments left of the video were just as malicious. Lizzie took revenge in the form of success. She became a motivational talking to people about embracing uniqueness, dealing with bullies and overcoming obstacles. She has written two books titled, “Beautiful Lizzie” and “Be Beautiful, Be You”. She is also a senior at Texas State University. Lizzie explained that her life has not always been easy but she would not have it any other way because she has learned so much and helped so many people through her pain. I think this is so inspiring because Lizzie is showing people that beauty is more than just looks and that people don’t need to feel bad because they don’t look like the photo shopped models in the magazines.   I think it is courageous of Lizzie to take her negative experiences and turn them into ways to help and uplift other people.