Originally from Grantham, Lincolnshire, Anita Harvey is living in Nottingham where she is studying dance at present. She had her first encounter with vitiligo when she was eight years old. She recalls, “At first, I was completely unsure what it was. It took visiting multiple doctors and hospitals until I was diagnosed with vitiligo. Some doctors even blamed my vitiligo on a mole on my shoulder, and I even had it surgically removed as they believed this could possibly cure me.”
Explaining a complex skin disorder like vitiligo cannot be easy for a kid. Anita had trouble explaining it too. She shares, “As I didn’t even know what I had, I didn’t know how to answer people’s questions. I often told people that it is there because I was half Indian and half English. To me, that made sense.”
Anita did experience bullying, but she gradually learned that it was people who didn’t understand her. “People have gone out of their way to avoid me in the streets. Children bully because they don’t understand how it makes people feel, but adults should know better. I’ve been an embarrassment to my friends and family members so much that I’ve been uninvited to occasions to prevent further humiliation to them. This is sad, but I’m glad that I’ve learned that people are more embarrassed about themselves more than me. It makes me happy to know that I love myself enough and I don’t need others’ acceptance to love who I am,” Anita pours her heart out.
From the age of 8 till 12, Anita felt quite isolated, living where no one else had vitiligo and those who had it probably didn’t show it. “I wasn’t okay with my vitiligo until I started to research. Once I knew what it was, I realized how unique I was. I loved that I was different. I didn’t want to be the popular girl. I just wanted to be my own person to stand out from the crowd,” comments the young dancer who was recently featured in Vogue Italia.
Vitiligo fighters often get mad when someone misinterprets their vitiligo. But, Anita has a different approach to it: ” People commonly think I either have a massive birthmark or that I’m a burn victim. To be honest when people tell me that I can’t help but laugh. I love hearing what people’s first impressions are because they just amaze me. It makes me realize how inventive the human mind really is.”
Today, Anita loves who she is, and would never ever want to change herself. She draws her inspiration from a dance choreographer named Elizabeth Streb. Anita explains why, “She explores the idea of flight and how things don’t have to look pretty, and great artwork can be made from danger and risk. She created her own technique called the ‘pop action’ in which people pop from movement to movement rather than having the following transitions. She doesn’t conform to the normal standards of dance, and I love that she inspires me to be different each and every day.”
We often think that people with vitiligo are underrepresented in books and movies. Anita feels that many celebrities with vitiligo are to be blamed for that. “There are some people on TV, they don’t represent us but hide it. I’ve had the misfortune of meeting others with vitiligo who have laughed at me for not wanting to find a cure. If more of us put ourselves out there, then people won’t feel the need to have to cure themselves”, she makes a point, “
Anita is currently aspiring to be a choreographer and is sharing her work on her Instagram handle – @anita_harvey27. She wishes to inspire others to love themselves and not feel the need to change themselves for anyone. Team Unite For Vitiligo wishes her best of luck!
