00:01Growing up in the Bronx was rough because people, you know, they wanted to know, like,
00:05okay, what are you? And the moment I said I'm black or I'm African-American, it was just, like, a
00:10joke, like, what do you mean?
00:15Me and my younger brother have albinism. My father is very dark-skinned and my older brother is very dark
00:21-skinned as well.
00:22It's just a gene that is hereditary. That's all it is, really. It's lack of pigment and hair, skin, and
00:29eyes.
00:30Also with that, you're getting the sadness, which is movement of the eyes, which is why my eyes move back
00:35and forth.
00:38We got teased a lot because we're so fair. This one day, this boy, we got into it.
00:43He would bother me every day after school. He would make fun of me.
00:46And one day, we just got into a fight. I was like, I'm not going to take this anymore.
00:50And we were rolling around in the snow. We were fighting.
00:53But even other than having albinism, then I started getting teased for being too skinny.
00:58So, it was just, like, one thing after another.
01:01I was just tall. I was always the one in the back of the line.
01:07I became interested in modeling when I was around 14.
01:12When I first started modeling, everything was titled, like, the albino model.
01:16And I didn't want to be the albino model.
01:19I'm Deandra Forrest. This is who I am before anything.
01:23I wanted to be booked because people love my look.
01:27People write me all the time on Facebook and Instagram and they'll ask me
01:32how they can explain what albinism is to their children that have albinism.
01:37I'm, like, very responsive. I love helping them with that.
01:41In certain places, people with albinism aren't safe.
01:44In Tanzania, there's witch doctors that believe that if you mutilate the limbs of people with albinism,
01:54that they're good luck charms.
01:56So, I've worked with ACN, Assistant Children in Need.
01:58ACN has a safe house for children and adults with albinism just to keep them safe.
02:06My parents always told me and all of us that we're beautiful,
02:11that we're no different than anyone else.
02:13I love the way I look.
02:15I'm very comfortable in my skin now.
02:18I love my full lips, my blonde hair.
02:22We're all different in some way and that's okay.
02:26Ha, ha, ha, ha!
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