A grandfather has knitted dolls with vitiligo to comfort children living with the skin condition
Just one per cent of the world’s population has vitiligo - and many children with the condition suffer from a lack of self-esteem and body confidence.
But super model Winnie Harlow, and a host of others, have made a huge impact into how the condition is perceived.
Vitiligo is characterised by a loss of pigmentation in the skin.
It can create a blotchy appearance - and for many who have it - it can be difficult to live with.
That's why grandfather Joao Stanganelli Junior, 64, started crocheting dolls to comfort children with the rare skin disorder.
As a person with vitiligo himself, Mr Stanganelli knows exactly what it feels like to look different.
"I know the pain, not the physical pain, the emotional pain, the pain of the imaginative prejudice of people's discrimination," Stanganelli said.
Joao wanted to give his granddaughter something to remember him by later in life, so is wife suggested that he should make dolls that resemble him.
It only took Stanganelli five days to teach himself how to crochet in his home in Braganza Paulista and he started receiving requests for more dolls.
The popularity of his handiwork then started to grow outside his circle of friends and family. Soon he was receiving special orders for dolls with other conditions.
Joao was not just making crochet dolls with vitiligo but also wheelchair and hearing aid users as well.
Stanganelli’s miniature success was certainly unexpected but he suggests that peoples’ differences should be respected.
“They think you are different, in reality, we are all different, and we are all similar in our differences."
