{"id":1958,"date":"2023-08-19T20:50:55","date_gmt":"2023-08-19T20:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=1958"},"modified":"2023-08-19T20:50:55","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T20:50:55","slug":"this-is-lizzie-velasquez-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=1958","title":{"rendered":"This is Lizzie Vel\u00e1squez in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every person faces their own struggles when it comes to their looks and\/or self-esteem.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It might be that you want to lose weight, or maybe you want to fix your teeth? There\u2019s always something that you\u2019d probably like to improve.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Well, every time I feel like I need motivation, I\u2019ll always think about Lizzie Vel\u00e1squez from Austin, Texas.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lizzie was born with an extremely rare genetic disorder that prevents her from gaining weight, which in turn affects her appearance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Being tormented can break any person\u2019s heart and mind, but Lizzie was confident that these people wouldn\u2019t be the ones prevailing. Today, she\u2019s turned her life around and she\u2019s now a global motivational speaker.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Lizzie<\/figure>\n

Now, I want you, the person reading this, to take a moment to think back on your life at the age of 16. For me, there are plenty of memories from that time \u2013 both good and bad \u2013 but overall, it was a time when many things were changing. There were more hormones, emotions, and sometimes even mental challenges that you had to fight against.<\/p>\n

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All in all, hopefully it was a good time in your life, as it was for me.<\/p>\n

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Now, pretend that at 16 years of age you were called \u201cThe Ugliest Woman\/Man in the World\u201d. Not only that, but there\u2019s even a video of you with the text \u201cThe Ugliest Woman\/Man in the World\u201d attached to it. That video has hundreds of thousands of views, and in the comments, people are saying the worst possible things about you.<\/p>\n

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How would that make you feel?<\/p>\n

\"Lizzie<\/figure>\n

For Lizzie Vel\u00e1squez, this was the tragic reality. She was teased throughout her school years \u2013 both in person and on the internet \u2013 and it could\u2019ve so easily broken her.<\/p>\n

But Lizzie had other plans. She decided to put all these negative vibes together and instead turn them into something positive. That\u2019s why we love her dearly, and want to spread her inspirational story.<\/p>\n

I will share this with my friends, and I\u2019d love for you to do the same.<\/p>\n

Lizzie Vel\u00e1squez<\/h2>\n

Lizzie Vel\u00e1squez was born March 13, 1989, in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n

At her birth, she weighed only 2 pounds and 11 ounces, and it was clear from the moment she was born that she looked different from the other babies at the hospital.<\/p>\n

Being that small, Lizzie didn\u2019t understand that she was different, since she\u2019d always been just Lizzie. However, when she started kindergarden at age five, she realized straight away that something was off.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo my family, I was just Lizzie. It was a big slap of reality for a 5-year-old. The other kids were scared of me, pointing at me, not wanting to sit with me,\u201d she told\u00a0Today. \u201cI couldn\u2019t process it. I wasn\u2019t doing anything to them, so why was it happening to me? And I didn\u2019t dare tell anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, I told my parents and they said, \u2018There is nothing wrong with you, you are just smaller than the other kids. You are beautiful and smart and can accomplish anything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lizzie<\/figure>\n

Those words from her family still stick with her today, and it really is the truth. No matter how you look, you still have the ability to accomplish anything you want. For Lizzie, though, this would require strong mental toughness to get there. That, and the support from her parents.<\/p>\n

Lizzie Vel\u00e1squez \u2013\u00a0rare conditions<\/h2>\n

But we\u2019ll get back to Lizzie and how she managed to come out strong and incredibly inspirational on the other side.<\/p>\n

So what was it that made her look the way she does?<\/p>\n

Well, Lizzie was born with two rare conditions, marfan syndrome and lipodystrophy. The rare genetic conditions affect her heart, eyes and bones, and prevent her from gaining weight because of a problem with the way fat is distributed in her body. It\u2019s so rare, in fact, that there are only three known cases in the world. Still to this day, it baffles experts.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but the condition causes Lizzie to age faster than people without the disorder, and she\u2019s also blind in one eye.<\/p>\n

As early as kindergarden, Lizzie recieved comments from other kids. And these remarks continued throughout her childhood, with people labeling her face as \u201cdisgusting\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, I thought everyone looked like me. I didn\u2019t recognize or tell that they didn\u2019t look like me,\u201d she told the\u00a0Daily Mail.<\/p>\n

\"Lizzie<\/figure>\n

When Lizzie started high school, things got better. She realized that she had power over her own life, and her decision was made clear.<\/p>\n

Horrible video on YouTube<\/h2>\n

She was always going to stay positive, be brave, and do all the activities that she wanted to do alongside her friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was scary, but I knew it would pay off,\u201d Lizzie Vel\u00e1squez\u00a0explained. \u201cI was staff writer for the school newspaper and took photos for the yearbook. I tried out for cheerleading. The uniforms were really cute and every time I wore it around the school, I felt like a superhero. I was more myself around my peers, the version of myself around my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things started to get better, and Lizzie\u2019s confidence was great. Then, one day, her world collapsed.<\/p>\n

While doing homework, she was scrolling on her computer and went onto YouTube. Suddenly, she saw a video about herself that would break her heart.<\/p>\n

Someone had made a video about Lizzie, dubbing her \u201cthe world\u2019s ugliest woman\u201d. Worse, the video had millions of views, and some of the comments were truly terrible.<\/p>\n

She couldn\u2019t stop herself from reading the comments, with some people even saying that the world would be a better place if Lizzie took her own life. She read on, hoping that someone would come to her aid. Sadly, not a single comment did.<\/p>\n

\u201cWanted to prove them wrong\u201d<\/h2>\n

Lizzie felt like someone \u201cwas putting a fist through the computer screen and physically punching me.\u201d She could barely believe what she was seeing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s crazy to think about how thousands of people can sit behind their computers and torment a 16-year-old girl suffering from a severe illness. How do those people sleep at night?<\/p>\n

This was the worst kind of hate, and it could\u2019ve destroyed Lizzie. But once again, she picked herself up. In fact, she said that if she could, she\u2019d send a thank you card and flowers to the person who created the video, because that video changed her life forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to retaliate \u2014 it was a waste of time,\u201d she said. \u201cI just wanted to prove them wrong, I realized I could use it for the greater good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lizzie was never going to let the haters win. She\u2019d seen the worst possible things written and said about her, but still, she was determined to use it as fuel for the future Lizzie.<\/p>\n

\"Lizzie<\/figure>\n

She continued on to college, and at 23 she earned a Bachelors Degree in communication from Texas State University.<\/p>\n

Inspirational TedTalk<\/h2>\n

In 2003, she was then invited to a TED Talk in Austin, and it went viral. Lizzie explained how hurtful the mocking had been, but at the same time, she wanted to give people another perspective, as she did for herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor so long, I thought that what defined me was my outer appearance,\u201d she said in the 2013\u00a0TED Talk, explaining that she used to fantasize about \u201cscrubbing the syndrome\u201d off her face.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething kind of clicked in my head,\u201d she explained of the moment she saw that awful YouTube video. \u201cAm I going to let the people who called me a monster define me? No, I\u2019m going to let my goals and my success and my accomplishments be the things that define me.\u201d<\/p>\n

For most people, all this hatred would have been tough to endure. But Lizzie isn\u2019t most people; she showed everyone how strong she really is.\u00a0Over the course of her entire life, she has been forced to eat a high-calorie diet frequently to keep her body\u2019s energy levels up.<\/p>\n

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Today, she\u2019s 31 years old and a successful business woman who travels the world to lecture others on her illness, as well as her life story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my purpose. This is what I\u2019m meant to do for the rest of my life. I like to think that I\u2019m not only telling my story, I\u2019m telling everyone\u2019s story,\u201d Lizzie told the\u00a0Daily Mail.<\/p>\n

As of now, she has over 850,000 followers on her YouTube channel and uses it to give inspirational talks. Lizzie\u2019s showed the haters that she\u2019s stronger than them \u2013 and she\u2019s much more successful today than they will ever be.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are beautiful and smart and can accomplish anything,\u201d Lizzie said her mother and father used to tell her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey loved me in the face of so many unknowns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Lizzie is a strong, inspirational and, well, incredible person, this year\u2019s been tough for many reasons.<\/p>\n

\"Lizzie<\/figure>\n

The Covid-19 pandemic hasn\u2019t helped, but she\u2019s also getting picked on social media, especially on the app TikTok. Lizzie was the subject of an image that people were looking at and reacting to.<\/p>\n

And the worst part was that it was a mother that had used her photo to prank a child into thinking that Lizzie was the teacher for the next school year.<\/p>\n

The importance of respecting<\/h2>\n

In July, it became a horrible trend among parents, where they did a FaceTime call saying that Lizzie would be the child\u2019s next teacher.<\/p>\n

Lizzie was hurt, obviously, and rightly so. What kind of parent would do this to another person? What message does it send to their children? That this kind of hate is OK? Lizzie herself said it encourages children to react in an unfavorable way regarding the way people look.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen kids are in school or whether they are out in public, it\u2019s crucial to teach them the importance of respecting someone who doesn\u2019t look like them,\u201d Lizzie said, in a\u00a0video\u00a0posted on her social media accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cShowing them a video might be a joke, but it can be something that shows a child if my mom or dad thinks it\u2019s funny then it must be okay for me to laugh at as well,\u201d she says. \u201cI take great responsibility in the fact that now is the time time to do all I can to speak up for those who might not have a voice or for those who don\u2019t know how to use theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew in my gut my photo was going to be used,\u201d she added. \u201cAfter dealing with things like this for a while now, I can sense when this might happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

A true inspiration<\/h2>\n

Following Lizzie condemning the videos, many children instead started posting videos where they said how beautiful Lizzie was. Once again, the haters had lost.<\/p>\n

Lizzie has been praised all over the world for her courage throughout her life. She\u2019s written a best-selling book about her life and even been praised by former First Lady Michelle Obama.<\/p>\n

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Beauty comes from within your heart and soul. Lizzie, you are beautiful! We think her story is deeply inspirational, and we think that everyone should read about her to understand that anything is possible.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please, share this story with friends and family if you think Lizzie is an incredible person!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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