Publications
Partners
When this American mom saw her disabled daughter’s picture was being abused online, she came out all guns blazing.
Sophia Weaver (9), from North Carolina in the US, was born with facial deformities and has endured countless surgeries in her short life so far.
The little girl suffers from Rett syndrome, a rare genetic mutation that affects brain development, especially in girls, according to Mayo Clinic.
Because of the disorder, Natalie has no motor skills and is only able to communicate through her eyes and with small sounds.
According to Mirror News, her mother, Natalie Weaver, who says that her daughter requires constant care, says that cruel comments about Sophia aren’t unusual.
But one recent comment made by an internet troll hit the mom of three pretty hard.
Natalie, who’s an advocate for healthcare and those with special needs, decided to speak out more about her daughter's condition after a proposed policy change to healthcare coverage in their area was introduced, reports CNN.
But in November, the mom spotted a picture of her daughter on Twitter, along with a paragraph advocating forced abortion and eugenics.
“Yea it is okay to think that everything matters, however, a lot of them do not hence the amnio test,” the cruel tweet read. The nasty post went on to say that parents who choose not to abort a foetus with abnormal features should pay for “all bills accrued after that”.
Natalie was shocked and furious that her precious daughter’s picture had been used for such a horrible campaign. She advised her supporters to report the tweet but was disappointed with the initial response from Twitter.
“@TwitterSupport Just received an email that Twitter doesn’t think a person using my child’s image as the poster child to abort & to weed out all the ‘defectives’’ in utero is a violation,” Natalie tweeted to her many followers.
“Why? Because they won’t recognize hate toward people with disabilities in their regulations/reports.”
But she persevered until the picture was taken down. Eventually, Twitter issued an apology to Natalie and the internet troll’s account was suspended.
The mom hopes to make people realise that little Sophia is just like any other person.
“I think many times, people don’t even view Sophia as a person. I know it happens with other people with disabilities,” Natalie says.
“We have to deal with so many challenges, but because of her my life is better. I know what true happiness is.”
Sources: mirror.co.uk, edition.cnn.com, dailywire.com
