“My name is Nusrit but people call me Nelly. I am 29, I live in Coventry in the UK and have Harlequin Ichthyosis. I work as sports duty manager at my old college.
I was on a documentary called Beauty and the Beast – The Ugly Face of Prejudice. The idea of this documentary is to show two different people – one who was addicted to the way they look, and the other person who has a disfigurement. I was paired up with Holly Kent (pictured with Nelly throughout) who is a dancer and model. The whole experience was amazing. It helped me to get more confidence and I wanted to show people what I had to do keep my self healthy and alive. The documentary also showed what people put in their bodies to make themselves beautiful. Me and Holly are friends and we talk to each other from time to time. I didn’t meet any of the others contestants from the show.
I got a great response from doing the show as it opened people’s eyes to what it’s like to have a disfigurement and people got to know about my skin condition. A lot of people think that I have been burnt in a fire.
I also wanted to help other people who have Ichthyosis. I like helping other people who have the same condition or who have a child with it – I give them some information about Ichthyosis. I like that I have got know more people with the same condition though Facebook. I have met a few people with Ichthyosis in person. It was lovely to have met them – it was nice to talk about our experience and exchange ideas.
I also like raising money for different charities like Walk for Skin, Race for Life and the Coventry Fun Run. Through doing these charity walks and runs, I raised money for Hereward college and Baby Lifeline.
My dream is to stay healthy.”
You can watch Nelly on Beauty and the Beast on YouTube (note I apologise I cannot embed the video – I’ve tried so hard!).
This post is part of the Ichthyosis Awareness Month project. For all posts in this project, click here.
For Ichthyosis and appearance diversity resources, click here.
I saw some episodes of Beauty and the Beast although I don't remember Nelly so I must have got bored with it after the second or third episode. I really despised the name. However they want to spin it, they pair a "beautiful" person with a deformed one (the one I remember most clearly was a man who'd been severely burned) and it's obvious who the "beast" is. C4 have become notorious for this sort of sensationalism and voyeurism. One of their highest-profile recent shows was called "Big Fat Gypsy Weddings" which showed stereotypical extravagant weddings by "Gypsies" (actually mostly Irish Travellers, a different group altogether).