Paper short abstract:

People with facial limb absence do not only look different, but often also contend with various sensory impairments. This paper explores the face as a sensorial bodily structure as well as a visible, social one, and discusses various interplays and conflicts between these two bodily perspectives.

Paper long abstract:

People with facial limb absence do not only look different, but often also contend with various sensory impairments. Thus, they must cope with issues such as loss of visual depth, skin insensitivity, or a lacking sense of smell. As a result, these people experience problems when approaching everyday activities such as descending the stairs, eating or interacting with others. In dealing with these problems, people with facial limb absence develop new ways to 'do' their bodies - new bodily habits that enable them to handle routine tasks without being hampered by their impairments. In this paper, I explore how their various sensory impairments affect the way these people inhabit their world by discussing the stories of people with facial limb absence. These stories were obtained in the course of my qualitative study into facial difference. But the face is not only a perceiving bodily structure: it is also a visible, social one. Compensating for their sensorial impairments through new bodily habits may thus interfere with these people's ability to 'pass as normal'. This may elicit staring behavior or other unwanted responses from others. Moreover: the fact people with facial limb absence use various medical aides to cover the lost facial area (e.g. a gauze dressing or a facial prosthetic device) may impact their sense of touch. In approaching how facial difference involves the senses, my paper considers both the first-person's (body subject) and third-person's (body object) perspective on the face, as well as interplays and conflicts between the two.