Emily is a Blogger,
Content Creator and Vlogger who goes by the name of Fashioneyesta. She also has
a condition called Septo Optic Dysplasia, which is a congenital condition that
affects her sight and endocrine system.
I make content about style, beauty and disability awareness
and have been since 2012. I started
making content after to positively change perceptions towards sight loss and
disability in general.
Being a blogger you have to learn to accept criticism, it
comes with the territory. However, sometimes the comment’s I’ve received have
been less critical and more hateful. The hate has always been directed at one
thing, my disability.
I’ve received comments from people telling me that I don’t
look disabled or that I don’t look like I have a visual impairment. People have
outright accused me of faking my disability. When I’ve spoken about my
experiences with disability discrimination and inaccessibility, some have tried
to invalidate me by telling me that I’m “complaining”. I’ve even had comments
from people telling me to do harmful things to myself to “cure” my disability.
In the past, this had a colossal impact on my mental heath,
these comments would send my anxiety spiralling out of control. I couldn’t face
making videos and so the camera was put away and for long periods of time I
would go offline.
People’s hate of my
disability stopped me from living my life.
But when I tried to report it I was often left feeling
confused, on a lot of platforms there isn’t a specific option for disability
hate crime. So I often wondered “do I report a case of bullying, harassment or
hate speech?” After long discussions with disabled friends on what category to
file my report under I would then block the commenter and try to move on.
Some said, “just don’t go online if you can’t handle it” or
“don’t make videos, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
But I don’t see that as a solution. Why should the onus be
put on disabled people not to use social media? For a lot of the disability
community, social media is a vital tool to socialise and thrive when we can’t
physically get out to socialise. Having a disability can be very isolating at
times, especially when I’m too ill to leave my house. Social media is my key to
having a voice and for building an online community.
I’m living proof that online disability hate crime does
happen and that it can play havoc with your life. I’m lucky that the comments I
receive are pretty tame next to some of the offences I’ve heard about. But that
we are living in a society that is becoming more habituated into thinking this
kind of abuse towards disabled people is acceptable. According to a
new study from disability charity Leonard Charity has risen by 33% in the
last year.
It could get worse…
The real responsibility needs to be put onto social media platforms
to create a system to report specific hate crimes and to work with local police
services to make reporting these crimes easier. More positive disability
awareness programmes need to be taught in schools, where disability hate crime
and ableism are talked about to young people by disabled people. Disabled
influencers should continue to receive elevation and support from social media
platforms so that they can continue to spread a positive message.
Disability hate crime needs to be seen for what it is, a
crime. Regardless of whether it’s on the street or on a screen.
Have you ever had
your disability challenged online? How do you think we can overcome online
disability hate crime?
