Facial disfigurement in spotlight as man shunned for being ‘too ugly’

An unemployed man with a facial disfigurement claims he is being discriminated against by employers for being "too ugly".

Edward Johnson, who has a skin condition which has left his face and body covered with harmless tumours, claims to have applied for more than 80 jobs and registered his CV with countless agencies, without any luck.

Johnson said he was convinced that he is being discriminated against and claimed one recruitment agency said it would not be able to find him a job because "their clients wouldn't like it".

He said: "I think employers feel uneasy about taking me on. A lot of people see my face and are scared of catching something even though it's not infectious."

A spokeswoman for charity Changing Faces, which supports people with facial disfigurements, said: "If employers are unfamiliar with disfigurements they can, on an unconscious level, make an unwitting judgement about someone based on their appearance."