A “face equality” video portraying how jobseekers are treated because of their appearance has gone viral on the Internet, with Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation calling for May 17 to be designated as “face equality day” to combat discrimination against people with facial disfigurements.
According to a survey on the social perception of appearances conducted by the foundation in 2013, one out of five people has suffered from ridicule or criticism because of the way they look, while two-thirds of those mistreated due to their appearancessaid they have low self-esteem and do not want to interact with others, the foundation said.
More than 70 percent of respondents said that they have a negative impression of people with a facial disfigurement according to another survey on the public’s real attitude toward people with disfigurements, the foundation said.
Screen grab from Face Equality’s official Web site
To alter the practice of judging people based on appearance and to raise awareness, UK-based charity Changing Face launched a face-equality campaign in 2010, and the foundation has responded to its call with a corresponding campaign in Taiwan since 2011, the foundation said.
Foundation public relations officer Chang Chia-wen (張家雯) said that every face is unique, and face equality is about an individual’s right to be treated fairly and equally, regardless of their appearance.
An educational event to promote facial equality is to be held at Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei today and tomorrow, while another activity is to take place at the Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung on May 17, she said, adding that attendees can play games and have their faces painted.
An online campaign to collect photographs of smiling faces is to run through June 30, in a bid to encourage the public to show support for people with disfigurements, she said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS