COVINGTON, Kentucky — It’s the Oscars moment that everyone can’t stop talking about: Will Smith appeared to strike Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair. Despite the drama, some folks are using the viral moment as a way to raise awareness about alopecia, a condition doctors diagnosed Pinkett Smith with.
That’s because Ratley and Jada Pinkett Smith have something in common.
“I lost my hair when I was 20, so I’m going on 19 years,” Ratley said.
Ratley has alopecia, a medical condition that causes hair loss. Ratley said there are a lot of social misconceptions.
“That I’m sick,” she said. “Everybody always wants to talk about their experience with chemotherapy and cancer and their families, but it’s not — I’m an advocate for alopecia so I do correct them. I’m not the one to just take the ‘Oh, thanks,’ but I do let them know that it’s what it is so there’s awareness of it. But I do get ‘Are you sick?’ more than anything else.”
Ratley said what happened at the Oscars is a good example of how words can hurt.
“There was a 12-year-old girl that committed suicide that has alopecia, that was bullied for alopecia just because she doesn’t have hair,” Ratley said. “I mean, it’s not the butt of a joke and not a reason to make fun of somebody. I mean, really, the people who have it are no different than anybody else and want you to know about it, so ask questions.”
Jakubowski hopes the Oscars incident serves as a learning experience for people to be more empathetic.
“I hope that people would come into, you know, any interaction, especially people with alopecia who are affected by this with an open mind and a bit of a better understanding of the disease and the effect that is has on the people that experience it, that have it,” Jakubowski said.
Ratley leads a support group for people with alopecia in Cincinnati that she hopes to develop more this year.
Despite what happened, she hopes the Oscars incident will help more people gain a better understanding of alopecia moving forward.
“I think that it’s an opportunity for people to look into the National Alopecia Areata Foundation and find out what they’re about, what they’re doing, and all the great stuff that’s coming from them,” she said.
For more information on the Cincinnati NAAF support group, visit their Facebook page.
