 People get trolled online all the time for different reasons, from a 'hot take' on a new film to their opinion over how much milk you should put in the perfect cup of tea. But what's it like to be harassed and abused due to a part of you that you have no control over? Ableist trolling is when people are abused or treated differently based on their disability. Abuse based on someone's disability has been brought to the forefront recently with the release of comedian Rosie Jones's documentary 'Am I a R****d?' – which drew controversy over using the 'R word' in its title. And new figures from disability charity Scope further demonstrate the scale of the problem. Their study, the biggest to ever look at disabled peoples' experiences of negative attitudes, found 29% of disabled people have experienced trolling or bullying online in the last five years. More than half – 53% – have seen negative comments about disabled people or disability in general, and 34% of disabled people who use social media or game online have experienced people making negative comments about them and their conditions or impairments. Bryony Moss, a 25-year-old actor, model and disability and mental health advocate, knows all too well the impact of ableist abuse. Trusted people monitor her social media accounts so she's less likely to see trolling comments (Picture: Jade Fisher) Some websites feel safer than others, Bryony says (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto) She has cerebral palsy and while the bullying started in school, it continued as she and her peers moved onto social media. Bryony, who lives in Buckinghamshire, said: 'When I started using sites like Facebook I found that some of the people I was friends with started to do trolling on my page quite a bit. 'When I moved onto bigger platforms like Instagram and I started a public page, that's when it really rocketed. 'I){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
People get trolled online all the time for different reasons, from a ‘hot take’ on a new film to their opinion over how much milk you should put in the perfect cup of tea.
But what’s it like to be harassed and abused due to a part of you that you have no control over?
Ableist trolling is when people are abused or treated differently based on their disability.
Abuse based on someone’s disability has been brought to the forefront recently with the release of comedian Rosie Jones’s documentary ‘Am I a R****d?’ – which drew controversy over using the ‘R word’ in its title.