At five, Adam Pearson was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis. His face tumors changed his look, and his classmates treated him like a monster. Adam knew his life would be altered, but he refused to let mistreatment triumph.
Pearson is a role model for many, playing in films and on TV and fighting the stigma of his disability.
Share his wonderful story with all your friends and family.
Adam Pearson
Youtube/OnlyHuman
Small complaints are simple to make in daily life. Perhaps your morning coffee was cold, the bus was late, or last night’s TV show was disappointing.
Complaining is fine—we all live different lifestyles. However, we should take a moment to appreciate what we have, even if our circumstances aren’t ideal.
Adam Pearson’s amazing tale
From now on, I’ll think about Adam Pearson anytime I lack the energy to undertake a minor activity, like doing the dishes, or feel bad about life’s little problems. Neurofibromatosis was identified in the British man aged five after he hit his head on a windowsill. His face developed malignancies from the lump, which never went away.
Pearson has achieved an exceptional life despite being mistreated by peers and community members. He was nicknamed “Elephant Man” and “Scarface.”
Adam kept following his aspirations despite that. Today, he raises awareness about his disability and stars in movies with Scarlett Johansson.
What Pearson assumed would be an outsider’s existence became something else.
He performs amazing work now, and we want you to share this article and spread his message.
Adam Pearson was born like any other baby. Born in London on January 6, 1985, his early years in Croydon, South London, were normal.
The Adam Pearson diagnosis: neurofibromatosis?
However, at five, everything changed. Adam hit his head on a windowsill, but the bump never healed. Neurofibromatosis, a hereditary condition that generates nerve tumors, was found soon after. Pearson has all his noncancerous tumors on his face.
The same illness affected Adam’s identical brother, Neil, however his symptoms are less noticeable.
“He looks normal,” Pearson told The Guardian 2014 “But he has terrible short-term memory.”
Adam had a hard time growing up with facial malignancies. Due to his illness, he had to learn the nasty ways of the world quickly, but school made matters worse. His peers called him names and degraded him to the point where he felt like an outsider. Unfortunately, nobody understood how to fix it.
Pearson told The Guardian that one of his “friends” informed him a teacher wanted to see him in a classroom. He arrived to see a gathering of children instead of a teacher.
“I went home with spit all over my blazer,” he said. “That was awful.”
Pearson recounted his school days in a Mirror interview.
“I would stand outside the school gates in the morning, take a deep breath, and let it happen. I knew the deal. The famous Elephant Man, freak, was called often.
“Life is about what you have, not what you lack”
At that moment, many kids would have given up and allowed the bullies triumph. Adam Pearson was an unusual kid. Despite knowing his life would be hard, he was determined to survive. Nothing could stop him, and he never let bullies win.
“Once I thought like them, the bullies won. Life matters, not death. Pearson stated that it was emotionally unproductive.
It’s all I know. Definitely part of me. Like questioning, ‘Why am I this tall?’”
Adam underwent 30 hospital procedures to “debunk” various cancers over his childhood. Despite his experience with cosmetic surgery, he’s dubious of the movement.
Pearson said such operations “profit from people’s insecurities.”
“It’s always used very lazily,” he remarked.
“In a perfect world, actors with conditions would play characters with them, but that’s unlikely. Filmmakers utilize generic, ‘normal’ actors and prosthetics. If Adam Sandler was blackened up to represent Nelson Mandela, it would have caused a stir, but with scars, people appear to not mind.
“I read that nine out of 10 women don’t like how they look because they compare themselves to airbrushed Vogue or FHM images. People lack media literacy. They have no idea how these photos are made. Education should include media literacy. Quantifying beauty has harmed it, he said.
Adam Pearson—acting
Adam observed a Changing Faces poster at Great Ormond Street Hospital, a London children’s hospital, during one of his regular visits. According to their website, they are “UK’s leading charity for everyone with a scar, mark or condition on their face or body.” Pearson immediately wanted to help.
Adam approached the group for positive thinking advice without alerting his parents. They told him that those mistreating him “are the ones with the problem, not you.”
After studying business management at Brighton University, he worked on Channel 4 and BBC projects. These include appearances on The Undateables and Beauty and the Beast, which explore how society regards all impairments.
Adam Pearson’s life changed again in 2011. Changing Faces told him Under the Skin producers needed a masculine role.
Jonathan Glazer’s science fiction film Under the Skin was a hit. Pearson starred with Scarlett Johansson to prove that anyone can achieve their dreams, regardless of appearance.
Adam Pearson
Youtube/RealStories
Adam says he took the job because it was so touching and honest.
According to me, the film depicts a world without knowledge or prejudice. Perhaps experiencing the world through extraterrestrial eyes.”
Adam Pearson wants stigma to end.
He was a screen natural. Pearson said working with Johansson was great and that much of the dialogue was improvised. He got her private email account and had to record a nude scene together.
“They just said ‘action’ and you do it,” he claimed. “I didn’t think about it and didn’t announce his film role until near the release. I didn’t inform certain people and just took them to see the film; my buddy Heidi hasn’t looked at me in a week.”
“Scarlett Johansson was amazing. After getting over the shock of “Oh my God, this is Scarlett Johansson!” she’s kind, engaging, amusing, and smart.
Acting wasn’t simply about inspiring others to follow their aspirations and overcome obstacles for Adam. More importantly, it allowed him to confront global taboo against exposing disability on screen.
“The unknown frightens people,” he said. If I can be as normal as possible and show there’s nothing to fear, whether on film or in real life, like going to the corner for milk, the less stigma there is. Nothing will change if I sit at home and cry, hugging the dog.
A leading disabled person in the UK
Since Under the Skin’s 2013 popularity, Adam has worked as an actor and disability rights campaigner. In 2017, he played himself in DRIB, and in 2019, Chained for Life. With Sebastian Stan in A Different Man, Adam was called “an actor of great charm” by The New York Times.
Adam wants to end disability stigma. He has presented many TED speeches and spoken at the World Health Innovation Summit. His work as a Prince’s Trust, Changing Faces, and Us In A Bus ambassador earned him RADAR and Diana Awards.
He was one of the UK’s 100 most influential disabled people in 2022.
Pearson recently competed on Celebrity Masterchef. Unfortunately, he was the first to leave the cooking program, but it didn’t matter. His appearance on Celebrity Masterchef illustrates something more important: you can do what you love regardless of your appearance or disability.
Pearson told Metro that minority and disabled talent, “often get pigeonholed into only doing massive air quotes here, disability thing,”
Adam Pearson
Youtube/TEDxTalks
“I don’t know what disability things are, so if someone could tell me and I can start, that would be amazing! No, it was outside that area, and it seemed like a good chance to step beyond that bubble.”
Adam has no girlfriend as of writing. If he has children, he has a 50% chance of passing on his ailment, but he’s quite positive.
He keeps trying to improve the world. He knows that even if their children have his genetic disease, they will have fantastic lives.
“My kids will be genetically awesome anyway,” Pearson said.
