'I was bullied at school for my rare syndrome, now I'm an international model'
A women who was severely bullied in childhood due to living with a rare condition, is now an international model who travels the world and attends iconic events such as London Fashion Week.
Hannah Harpin, 20, from Mirfield, West Yorkshire has Hay-Wells syndrome, which affects fewer than 100 people worldwide, and has caused her to be deaf and partially blind since birth.
She also has a lack of hair and her skin pigmentation, around 50% less than the average person, which means she has extremely pale skin.
But her physical differences caused some difficulties growing up.
"I have been bullied most of my life, from being sworn at in the street to strangers assuming I have cancer due to my baldness," she explains.
"I've even been spat on by a boy, and his friends filmed it."
Despite taking a toll on her mental health, Harpin has learnt to embrace her disabilities and is now hoping to inspire others to do the same.
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Shortly after her birth Harpin's parents noticed that she had been born with a cleft palate and although she was born with hair, it began to fall out naturally without any growing back.
These were all signs of Hay-Wells syndrome, but it was almost three years before she was given an official diagnosis.
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Harpin says her condition lead to her constantly being stared at and facing horrific comments about her looks.
"I realise now that I was outcasted a lot more—I was treated differently," she explains.
"People would infantilise me when I didn’t want that; I just wanted to be like everyone else, but I used to get treated like a child."
The constant attention had a huge impact on her emotional wellbeing, with Harpin admitting to suffering from suicidal thoughts and feeling the need to hide her baldness by wearing a wig.
The turning point came in 2019, when she decided to stop wearing wigs and try to embrace her natural looks.
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During lockdown she found the time and confidence to start posting content online, which lead to her going viral and, in early 2021, she was signed by model agency Zebedee Talent, who are trying to change the way disability and visible difference are represented in fashion.
Since then she has has had the opportunity to travel the world visiting iconic cities such as Venice, Amsterdam, and London to model for the coveted designers.
She is now hoping to help break down some of the stigmas associated with disabled models.
"The world of disabled models is about representation, but there's not a lot of representation, as some brands only want a certain type of disability, and they think that one disability represents all disabled people," she explains.
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Now that she's found her strength, Halpin has some advice for her 10-year-old self and anyone else who finds themselves worrying about what others think.
"I would say 'stop worrying about what other people say, because it's only going to give you wrinkles when you’re older'," she says.
"Just keep doing whatever you're doing; because you're not in this world for other people's validation," she continues.
"You're not in this world for them; you're in this world for you."
Additional reporting Caters.
