State Rep. Daisy Morales and other community advocates will host a World Vitiligo Day celebration to bring awareness to the skin condition from 6 to 7 p.m. Friday at Orlando City Hall.
The event will be livestreamed on Facebook at @RepDaisyMorales. Anyone interested in attending in person must RSVP at maria.kolmetz@myfloridahouse.gov.
Morales will be joined by Puerto Rican model Ash Soto, Beautifully Unblemished founder Tonja Johnson and Central Florida Jobs with Justice co-founder Denise Diaz.
All four women have vitiligo, a skin condition that causes skin to lose pigmentation, resulting in whitish patches over the face and body.
Morales says when she was diagnosed in 2001, she felt alone. She hopes the event will help bring awareness to the disease and increase research around it.
“We’re going to have to work together to find and ask for more research and more funding to be done. Vitiligo should be treated like any chronic disease like diabetes and cancer. They have research on it,” Morales says.
There is no known cause or cure for vitiligo.
Morales hopes Friday’s program decreases the stigma around the condition.
“This condition does bring a lot of trauma. Mentally, physically and spiritually," Morales says. "It’s a little devastating when you see your skin is changing color. And it’s something everyone views, everyone sees. And you can be treated differently. Isolated.”
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