A woman who was so badly burned as a child she nearly died is taking part in a campaign to help people deal with disfigurement.

Michelle Godfrey, 24, from Weston-super-Mare, suffered 80% burns when she was set alight at a Halloween party.

Since the accident, when she was eight years old, Michelle has undergone 65 operations to repair the damage.

But she still finds people are rude about her scars - and now she is featuring on posters to make people realise just how insensitive they can be.

Hurtful behaviour

Miss Godfrey, a student nurse, will be seen on adverts for the charity Changing Faces.

Its aim is to encourage people to be more tactful and polite when meeting one of the 400,000 people in the UK affected by a disfigurement.

Changing Faces founder Dr James Partridge said: "Meeting someone with a disfigurement for the first time can cause unease.

"Too many people get it wrong resulting in insensitive and hurtful behaviour, which is bad news for the thousands of men, women and children who have unusual or distinctive faces.

Shopping problems

"Our campaign aims to enable everyone to face disfigurement with confidence by tackling people's assumptions and awkwardness head-on."

Miss Godfrey said: "It is particularly bad when I'm clothes shopping.

"Shop assistants will say 'Oh, that top's not for you - it is a bit too open,' and I want to say to them 'Why?'

"Why do they have the right to dictate the kinds of clothes I should wear?"