James Partridge is well versed in facing up to the challenges of living life in the public eye in spite of severe disfigurement.

He was badly injured in a car accident at the age of 18 and refused to look in the mirror for three months afterwards.

As the founder of a charity, Changing Faces, he now dedicates his life to helping others cope with injuries similar to his own.

He has written a book on coping strategies and confidence-building techniques and last week read the lunchtime news bulletins on Five as a demonstration that people with facial disfigurement should not shun the public eye.

The issue of disfigurement was also in the news recently when former model and television presenter Katie Piper went public on the attack that left her badly scarred.

On March 31 last year she was approached by a man with a cup. Thinking he was a beggar she reached for her purse and, even when he threw the contents of the cup into her face she did not immediately realise what had happened. The cup was filled with acid and the attack left her severely burned and blind in one eye. She had to be fed through a tube as she had swallowed some of the acid, damaging her throat.

Telling her story was an attempt by her to rebuild her confidence and her life.

Three Northern Ireland women who were left badly scarred as a result of fires, now tell how they too have coped with adversity.

‘The scars made me who I am‘

Melanie Higgins (23) lives in Fermanagh with her husband Brian and their 21-month-old son William. She says:

On April 9, 1988 I was sitting in the car with my sister Amanda. My mum had nipped into a shop for a moment to get a pint of milk and for some reason the car went on fire.

A man called Oliver Quinn was passing and managed to pull me out of the car, but he couldn't save Amanda. No one knows why the car burst into flames. I have no memory of the fire as I was only two. I suffered burns on my hands, arms and face. I lost my hair and my hands had to be reconstructed, leaving me with very small fingers.

The more people see disfigurements the less of a shock they become. I'm sure seeing James Partridge read the news on Monday on Channel 5 was much more shocking to people than seeing him read the news on Friday because they'd got used to it. Once upon a time seeing a black person on TV would have been a shock, now it's the norm. That's the way it should happen with people with disfigurements.

All of my childhood was spend in and out of hospital going through operations. My hands were being constructed up until I was 10. My skin didn't grow so as I got bigger I needed skin grafts. I had treatment until I was 19 or 20. I attended the burns unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital. They were very good to me there. I had to wear a clear plastic face mask and other pressure garments. They even made some for my doll too. I always knew I was different as I was growing up, but I didn't really notice people looking at me until I was a little older.

Being at primary school was alright; it was going to other places that children like that caused problems.

It was the children who were the problem. Even if I didn't notice their reaction then my parents did. It didn't stop them from taking me out though, they always said they would never hide me away and never made me feel like I was a problem.

Grammar school was harder because teenage girls are obsessed with their looks. It's all about the hair and make-up for them but I couldn't compete. I always wondered what I looked like. I have two other sisters so I have an idea.

I got three As in my A Levels but I didn't think it was the right time for me to go to university. I was engaged when I left school anyway and got married at 19. I studied for a diploma in administration and I now work part-time as an administrator.

Now when I look in the mirror I see me. I can't help wondering what I would have been like if this hadn't happened to me, but to wish that would be to wish I was someone else. The scars have made me who I am. I chose to stop having surgery because I didn't want to spend my life in and out of hospital. I just want to spend a time with my family now. We have another child on the way.

Scars fade, so Katie will start to look better. I looked 100 times worse after my accident than I do now. Beauty is deception, and society's perception of it changes all the time. The most important thing Katie needs to do is to learn to accept herself. Remember that your true friends will always be there for you, no matter what you look like.”

‘Everyone has bad days but I wouldn’t change things’Getting through together — Paula Hinds-Coleman and Jodie Hinds

Paula Hinds-Coleman (38) lives in Belfast with her husband Peter. She says:

I was staying at my brother's house on November 27, 1987. I was sleeping in the same room as my 15-month-old niece Jodie when a fire broke out in an adjacent room.

I was woken by the sound of glass exploding in the next room and realised what was going on when I saw the pictures melting on the walls.

My brother had fitted child locks on the windows because of Jodie and they probably saved our lives — the fire would have spread much faster if I had been able to open the window.

I wrapped Jodie and myself in a duvet in the middle of the bed, and that's the last thing I remember. I woke up in the garden being tended to by the family GP. I thought I was fine and I kept trying to get up.

After being taken to hospital it took a week for what had happened to me to really sink in. One day I woke up and realised what had happened to me. The side of my face had suffered between 55% and 60% burns. I'm scarred almost all the way down the right side of my body, front and back. I have no index finger and very little movement in my right hand.

Since the fire I've been in and out of the Royal Victoria Hospital’s burns unit. Until I was 30 I had countless operations and skin grafts. Jodie and I were some of the first people to wear the clear face mask that Katie Piper wears. The idea is that it flattens out scar tissue and smooths the skin. I wore it for about two years but it was more effective on Jodie than it was on me. I also had to wear pressure garments on my body.

The staff at the burns unit were fantastic and I had wonderful support from them. Mr Miller, the surgeon, even did a reading at my wedding last year.

When I left hospital, other people's reactions were terrible. My relatives had told their children not to stare at me, but that was to protect my feelings, not because they feared they would be scared. I never went out on my own, everyone helped me out. My sisters got in a few arguments, but it was always behind my back. People didn't say things to my face that often.

Looking in the mirror now can still get me down and I do wish it had never happened to me, but everyone has bad days. On the other hand, I'm very happy to be here, I wouldn't change my husband or my family for the world.

I thought James reading the news was amazing. I watched it every day and after the first couple of seconds I didn't see his scars. He was so professional reading the news. I hope this is the start of it, getting people like us into the public eye. We can do things like that, so why shouldn’t we be given the chance to do so?

I saw the documentary on Katie Piper. I think she needs to get up and get out there and find herself a job.”

‘Kids can be so cruel and girls were worst at school’

Jodie Hinds (23) lives in Portaferry with her partner Tim and their seven-month-old son Caleb. She says:

As I was 15 months old when the fire happened, I have no recollection of it. My first memories are of the hospital — I was in and out until I was about four years old having operations and then as an out-patient until the age of eight.

My scars are on my forehead, down the left side of my face and around my left eye and most of my left ear is gone. The scars continue down my neck to my elbow and my left hand. There are also patches of scarring at my left knee and on my left foot.

I was found lying on my right side which is why the burns are concentrated on my left.

Medically it was better for me than for my aunt Paula because I was so young. As you grow your skin regenerates, so there are patches of scars that you can barely see any more on my arms.

As I was growing up, the disfigurement wasn't so bad. Portaferry is a very small town so everyone knew about what had happened to me and Paula and were used to seeing us around.

It was when I got to grammar school that things changed. I went to Our Lady and St Patrick's College in Knock, which is a school of 1,300 people. The school teachers were great, but they didn't broach the subject the way I would have liked. People didn't know anything about me or what had happened. For the first couple of days it was like being put up on a catwalk for everyone to see and for a couple of months after that people would stop me a lot to ask what had happened.

Kids can be cruel. So whenever there was an argument in the playground in either primary or secondary school, the way I looked was the first thing that was brought up. Girls were the worst.

It helped growing up that I had Paula to turn to, as well as my mum, as she got burnt too. Someone else always knew what I was going through. You do go through big highs and big lows though. I can forget they're there, then the smallest thing can just set me back for a month.

Recently I was standing at a cash point and there was a child in the queue with its parents. The child wouldn't stop staring at me and I found it really disconcerting.

I wear heavy make-up to cover the scars now. I can go down my street in Portaferry without it, but if I was going shopping to a big town then I have to be covered up.

I've met James Partridge and he's one of the most confident people I've ever met. I think he has raised awareness about living with disfigurement. I only have burns on half my face so, when I look at James I realise how lucky I am. The thing that gets me about Katie Piper is that she feels her career has now ended because of what happened to her, and it shouldn't be.

We need more people like her with different disabilities the whole way through the media.”