"I was bullied for my albinism but I've embraced it - I'll never dye my white hair"
A woman with albinism who was bullied because she 'didn't have brown hair' - is now proud of her condition and will never dye her white hair as it's 'part of her identity'.
Kristina Venning Rose, 47, was born with albinism - meaning her body produces no pigment.
This gave her white hair, white skin and violet eyes - leaving her visually impaired - and she is the only person in her family to have the condition.
Kristina grew up being bullied for looking different - and says mean school kids would exclude her and force her to stare into the sun despite her light-sensitive eyes.
She began dying her hair darker - but stopped as she grew fed up of being ashamed of who she was.
Kristina Venning Rose, 47, was born with albinism - meaning her body produces no pigment.
This gave her white hair, white skin and violet eyes - leaving her visually impaired - and she is the only person in her family to have the condition.
Kristina grew up being bullied for looking different - and says mean school kids would exclude her and force her to stare into the sun despite her light-sensitive eyes.
She began dying her hair darker - but stopped as she grew fed up of being ashamed of who she was.
Transcript
00:00Hi there, my name is Christina Venning-Rose and I am co-chair of the Albinism Fellowship.
00:04Happy International Albinism Awareness Day and we thought we would give you some fun
00:09facts about albinism. So here is one of them. There is a common belief that people think all
00:15people with albinism have red eyes. Nobody with albinism actually has red eyes. Some people like
00:21myself who have no pigment in their iris, they can appear to have, or we can appear to have,
00:30pink or purply coloured eyes and that is because in the back of your eye there are lots of blood
00:36vessels and if you don't have any pigment in your iris, the blood vessels in your retina
00:41reflect back out through your eye and that gives the appearance of pink or purple eyes.