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INTRODUCTION
There is a paucity of research exploring the views of different cultural and ethnic groups
concerning individuals with visible differences. As few standardised appearance measures have
been translated, most appearance-related research is therefore conducted in western cultures
(USA and UK) with individuals who have a good command of the English language.
People of South Asian descent, i.e. those ethnic groups originating from the Indian
subcontinent, constitute one of the largest ethnic minority groups in the UK, encompassing 4 per
cent of the total population. It is important to be aware that this group is diverse, as it includes
people who speak different languages, possess varying literacy rates, have different religious
beliefs and who are from different cultural heritages, therefore the heterogeneity of this group
cannot be emphasised strongly enough.
Exploring the views of the South Asian populations regarding visible differences is a priority,
because issues of disfigurement, stigma and shame may be particularly bound to membership
of specific cultural and ethnic groupings (Papadopoulos et al., 1999).
Accordingly, this study was designed to examine the views of members of UK South Asian
communities towards individuals with visible differences
METHOD
Sixty three participants from the West Midlands were recruited to 9 focus groups representing
four South Asian communities: Indian (Gujarati) Hindu, Indian (Punjabi) Sikh, Bangladeshi
Muslim and Pakistani Muslim. Groups were formed with attention to age, gender and ethnicity.
In order that questions and topics were culturally relevant, facilitators were chosen on the basis
of: relevant language skills; gender; identification with, and knowledge of the communities
(Culley, Hudson and Rapport, 2007).
Discussions were held in the language of the group and translated into English for data
analysis. Transcripts were analysed by a team of four analysts using template analysis (Kent,
2000).
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