By Emma Biginelli Macchia, reporter

A woman from Canterbury is calling on the fashion industry to stop selling the wrong idea of what attractiveness means.

Dr Amanda Bates was born with Amniotic band syndrome, a condition which caused her to have a cleft lip, missing fingers and clubbed feet. She was recently involved in the Portrait Positive campaign by charity Changing Faces, a project which aims to bring the fashion industry face-to-face with its narrow standards of beauty.

The project features women with disfigurements, marks, scars and conditions and took place thanks to a unique collaboration between the world-renowned photographer Rankin and designer Steven Tai.

Amanda, who works as a public engagement officer for the Centre for Health Services Studies at the University of Kent, took part in photoshoot by Rankin in design clothes, and the pictures were shown at the Wellcome Collection in London.

The 40-year-old model said that because of beauty stereotypes, people with facial differences like her can feel both “sidelined” and “marginalized” from the fashion world. “Since I was growing up, what constitutes attractiveness has just become really unattainable, kind of meaningless. We can’t all look the same way, for me, I wouldn’t want look any different because then I wouldn’t be me anymore and I wouldn’t have my identity.”

She added that everyone was beautiful in one’s own way, and that everyone had the right to be included in fashion and modeling events. She said: “This is a wake-up call to the fashion industry. You know what, looking different and having scars, that has its own beauty as well, and that’s got really lost, that’s not represented in current mainstream media and the fashion industry.”

Dr Bates also said that growing up with a different face was challenging, because she felt excluded and had to undergo several surgeries. “Now I feel incredibly positive… I don’t feel like I should hide away or being embarrassed. It’s not easy to be in this society, I still can get stared at, people can still make comments, but I try not to take it personally.”

Changing Faces is the leading charity for 1.3 million children, young people and adults in the UK who have a medical condition, mark or scar that makes them look different. Almost 1 in 100 people in the country have a significant visible facial difference.

Becky Hewitt, CEO of the charity, said that they see this project as a beginning. “[It is] a call to action to mainstream culture – fashion, film, employment, literature, leadership, advertising and beyond – to change to way you see. To spread the message that what makes us different and unique – is what makes all of us beautiful.

She added: “We believe that fashion, should be accessible to everyone. There’s so much more we can all do.”

Amanda Bates hopes that the campaign can prove that being different can be “cool”. She concluded: “Look at what I got to do! I had this amazing experience, which I wouldn’t have been able to have unless I looked different. I hope the campaign inspires others who may look different for whatever reason to think that they can get involved as well.”