I was first exposed to this photographer's work a few years back, and one of the things I could not help but notice was not only his great eye, but the positive attitudes and expressions of his subjects. The man obviously has an amazing gift, not only in the technical nature of his photographs, but also in being able to connect one-on-one with his subjects. I hope that everyone who reads this story takes a minute to go to Rick Guidotti's website and view more of his art. It is truly inspiring, whether you are a Christian or not. He truly displays God's beauty in His creation.

Opens my eyes to what, Lisa? Your post fills me with questions, and I hope you will not be offended if I ask them, because I do sincerely want to understand. I appreciate your taking the time to respond, but as it stands I can't read the compassion or understand the prayer. Do you mean you are praying without ceasing? Are you longing for me to know God better, aching to know me yourself and to share my experience of God? How will you pray for me--daily? hourly? For how long--a week? a month? until your prayers are answered? And how will you know if they are? How will you relate to me? Or won't you? Compassion. Yes, I need that as well as the prayers of God's people. But what shape will your compassion take? Will you respond, connect, discuss? Will you look expectantly for my screen name when you come here and hope to continue our conversation? Will you continue in prayer and in love for me, and how will I know it? How will I see it? I don't mean to single you out, only that you are the single person who offered. And if God is to open my eyes to what is going on here (which I trust he will), then I need to understand what you mean. I will not idly tell you that I feel compassion for you, because I trust you will know that by the words themselves, the questions, the intent to engage with you. There are so many words here on this site, but they are not the Word. The Word is truth, but too many of the words here are used to smother meaning and to deceive.

Rahab, I read your comments, and I feel compassion for you. I pray that God opens your eyes.

Working with (and enjoying it the longer the more)people with different disabilities since more than 40 years I appreciate this article and discussion a lot.My "view" to them not only changed trying to to turn my eyes in a different direction, but changing my attitude and approach from somebody who is only a "Giver" (meaning helper) to somebody who receives a lot. My understanding and learning of God`s marvelous creation, my learning about HIS greatness increases as more I see how HE created everything and everybody to HIS glory. I count it a privilege to have the chance to live with and to learn from this group of our society. It gives me incredibe joy looking to what there is instead of what ther isn`t!

Casey and Tim, I hear you. But the article – and Giudotti's work – are not about vision disabilities, which may or may not be an issue for any given individual with albinism, but about the immediate apparent shunning of people who simply look different. It doesn't touch on the issue of actually being "differently abled," as the phrase goes. We're just talking here about the visual impact, the sense of what is or is not beautiful in the eyes of sometimes clueless Christians. If they were not clueless, Margot would not be here urging us to learn to see in others the beauty God created in them. So Kathleen reacts to the obvious fact that "disability" was an overly-dramatic word choice, not because she's unaware that vision difficulties might accompany albinism, but because the issue of how our churches treat people with serious functional disabilities is considerably broader and deeper than this article even begins to suggest. If Christians today were not clueless, they would have no need to misuse words and images for their shock value.

@kathleen, you seem to not be aware that most people with albinism have visual problems, which can be severe, and so yes, they have a disability. There are several types of problems they may have with their eyes, including lack of development of the optic nerve. They can also have nystagmus, which is irregular rapid movement of the eyes back and forth, or in circular motion. All of them definitely have photophobia, due to lack of pigment in the eyes. There are several optical problems, you should check it out before you call Christians "clueless". Perhaps Christians are just more compassionate. Nobody *wants* the label of being disabled, but if someone *is* disabled, they should have all the help they need for their particular problem.

Kathleen (June 22, 2012 3:48 PM) - I thought the point was that some people stigmatize those with albinism for looking different than most, and that the color of their skin is due to a genetic disorder. This definition from webmd.com gives reason to consider teh condition to be a disability of sorts, considering the health issues related to it: Oculocutaneous albinism is a group of rare inherited disorders characterized by a reduced amount or complete lack of melanin pigment in the skin, hair, and eyes. These conditions are caused by mutations in specific genes that are necessary for the production of melanin pigment. Abnormal or insufficient melanin pigment results in vision abnormalities and light skin that is very susceptible to damage from the sun. Oculocutaneous albinism is inherited as an autosomal recessive genetic condition. (Emphasis added.) Blessings, Tim, an apparently clueless Christian ;-)

Is the author claiming that people with albinic pigmentation are either disabled or deformed? Seriously? What's next, maybe a picture of a redhead or a lefthander or a gay person alongside an earnest plea about 'the disabled? Christians come off as so clueless sometimes...

Ah, Crooked Bird, you made the point about the differene between calling someone "beautiful" and meaning on the inside and calling someone beautiful" and meaning "authentic physical beauty"--and the importance between the two--so well. Thank you.

This is beautiful. I think that listening can be similar. My husband and I host spiritual retreats for people transitioning from homelessness and addiction, and one of the first activities we do on each retreat is a "listening session," where each one gets a turn to talk, uninterrupted, about whatever he or she wants. One of the times that blessed us most in the listening session was when a friend brought a group of developmentally delayed people whom she worked with. I honestly don't think those people ever got listened to, in their everyday lives. The reaction you described when Rick takes people's photos reminded me of how they were after being listened to. It's another way of saying "you matter." In response to Tami M, I think that there's a real, and good, reason that Rick Guidotti is talking about "authentic physical beauty." If you read his story, this isn't about a spiritual transformation where he acquired a heart of gratitude and then began to see everyone as beautiful--it was the other way around. The seeing came first. Beauty is this guy's *job*, and he's an expert at it, and one day he looked at someone who was different and it hit him like a ton of bricks that she was beautiful. You know what I thought when I looked at the young girl's face in the picture after reading his story? I thought, "Oh my gosh, he's right. So she's pale-white, and she has spots. So does a snow leopard, and those are stunning. If you stop thinking that that coloring is 'wrong' for a human being and just *look* at it--it is beautiful." And that's the power of what Rick Guidotti is doing. Let's face it: in general, if someone who sees everyone as beautiful because Jesus loves everyone goes up to a girl with albinism and tells her she's beautiful--the girl will appreciate the compliment, I imagine. But she will file it under "nice things people have said to me to make me feel better about being ugly." She'll know it was prompted by a generous impulse--so she won't believe it. On the other hand if Rick comes up to take her photo, completely bowled over by having just realized she is as beautiful as the models he takes pictures of--prompted not by generosity but purely by a realization of *truth*--well, she'll believe him. She'll actually believe him. And that's a huge difference. Huge.