Jonathan “Jono” Lancaster was only 36 hours old when his parents abandoned him.
Lancaster was born with a rare genetic condition known as Treacher Collins syndrome, which affects the development of facial bones and tissues. TheMayo Clinicexplains that most people with TCS have “underdeveloped facial bones, particularly the cheek bones, and a very small jaw and chin.”
His condition is something Lancaster speaks openly – and often humorously — about.
“I call them my little Bart Simpson ears,” he tells the BBC, explaining how the condition has manifested for him. “I don’t have any cheekbones so my eyes appear the way that they are.”
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Jono Lancaster.Ken McKay/Shutterstock
“Looking back at high school, I have so many amazing memories, but behind those moments there was me trying my best to fit in,” he said. “The older kids would pull their eyes down. They would sing or make chants up about myself.”
“As I got older and people started getting into relationships that kind of didn’t really happen for me, and that’s when I developed so much hate for my face.”
Lancaster said he was in a “really, really dark and angry place” when he thought about his birth parents, so he wrote them a letter.
But it took another schoolyard incident to help Lancaster see his true calling.
“Right there, in that playground, I was like, I need to do more of this.”
Lancaster went on to found theLove Me Love My Face Foundation, which supports and raises awareness for those living with craniofacial conditions.
He also discusses how the media portrays those with facial differences on his Instagram, praising the depictions inEdward Scissorhandsand decrying those in Netflix’sThe Mother.
“It’s very common that a movie would use somebody with a visible difference and they will have them playing the bad guy,” he said in anInstagram post.“Villains, monsters, evil creatures…It has such a negative impact on you.”
And next month, Lancaster’s first book,Not All Heroes Wear Capes, hits shelves.
“It’s about the heroes that I’ve met in my life, and how ultimately, I became my own biggest hero,” he told the BBC. “Truth is, my life has been full of a lot of love and a lot of adventure.”
Not All Heroes Wear Capes.Ebury Press
And as he said in hisInstagram postrevealing the book cover, he hopes the book, which is about chance encounters with strangers and other people in his life, inspires people.
“Ultimately, you can become your own biggest hero,” he said. “That’s what this book is about. Becoming your own hero, full of self love.”
source: people.com
