'We're the world's biggest albino family'

As one of 15 albinos in an Asian family, Naseem Akhtar, 42, struggled to find her place in the world after years of abuse

- ELLIE FAWCETT

'As I brushed my light blonde hair, I looked up at my mum, Shameem, now 65, with tears in my eyes. Another child had shouted a racial slur at me in the street, and the bullying was really starting to affect my self-esteem.

"Just ignore them," my mum soothed. "Their comments should go in one ear, and out the other. Don't take it to heart and don't argue back, you'll only make things worse."

The older I got, the harder it became to stay quiet when vile abuse was hurled at me and my family. Growing up in Coventry, West Midlands, in the 1980s, I'd always felt different. Not only did my family and I face discrimination for being Asian - we were also the only family with albinism.

Albinism is an inherited condition that causes someone to have less melanin than usual and therefore have very light skin, hair, and eyes. We're a big family - I'm the eldest and I have five younger siblings, Ghulam, 40, Haider, 38, Muqadas, 36, Musarat, 30, and Mohammed 27. All six of us, and my parents, Aslam, 64, and Shameem, 65, have albinism. My mother's sister, my father's brother, and some of my cousins also have the condition. It means our hair is very light blonde or white and our skin tone is incredibly fair compared to some of our other Asian relatives.

In the UK, approximately one in 17,000 people have albinism. Being the only albino family when I was growing up was always incredibly tough.

We weren't accepted anywhere English people would shout abuse at us, and we were discriminated against for being different by the Asian community at the mosque. I was struggling to know my place in the world - I didn't fit in anywhere and it was affecting my identity and self-worth.