DENVER -- With a few bald patches on the back of her head, 9 year old Rio Jiminez knows she stands out.

"Everybody started making fun of me like you don't have any hair and you're gonig to lose it all and you're weird," said Rio.

Rio has Alopecia Areata. It's a genetic disease that causes patients to lose hair.

"It's an auto immune disease that attacks the hair folicles. It doesn't destroy them but disrupts them enough so they stop growing," said Dr. David Norris from the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine.

"I know that's not going to go away probably and I know that," said Rio.

And knowing that has helped Rio and her mother learn to accept and move forward with the disease. But the journey wasn't always easy.

"I cried. I thought I was a failure as a mom," said Liza Pizzo, Rio's mother.

"I just started panicing because I know kids are so cruel and they can be so mean. If you have anything that makes you different, you stand out," said Pizzo.

It took some time to adjust for Rio, but she did.

"Even if somebody does make fun of me, I just have to ignore them because I think I still look really pretty," said Rio.

And it's that confidence that has helped the community better understand when people are "different."

"When I was young people would say you're a jerk or something just because I lost all my hair. I would say thank you. I don't care what you say because my mom loves me and I have people around me who love me," said Rio.

There's no cure for Alopecia Areata, but there are treatments available. Some of them have severe side-effects.

For more on the disease and the latest research on Alopcia, go to naaf.com