A world without Down’s syndrome? Online resistance on Twitter: #worldwithoutdowns and #justaboutcoping

Abstract

Presented by actress and comedian Sally Phillips, A World Without Down's Syndrome has brought important ethical debates regarding prenatal screening into the public domain. By talking to people with Down's syndrome, family members, and professionals, Sally has presented a nuanced and thorough examination of the type of world we are living in. Following the documentary, Twitter users have continued to engage with debates and have created a resilient platform for challenging public attitudes. This paper explores the ways in which Twitter hashtags have provided a space for such important and long overdue conversations. While it would not be possible to provide a full overview of the topical conversations that the two hashtags have provoked, I aim to focus on some of the most prominent topics. The following, then, will explore the potential of alternative narratives that resist, and disrupt, normative notions of the human using the hashtags #worldwithoutdowns and #justaboutcoping.

Ableist contours of Down syndrome in Australia: Facebook attitudes towards existence and parenting of people with Down syndrome

“…A large proportion of posts in our Australian data-set reflected these ableist, systemburden viewpoints (often disintegrating into personal attacks). These responses also resonated with the meta-narratives of economic austerity and entitlement to support services found on Twitter in the UK, where Burch (2017) found that people with disability utilising services were positioned as 'parasites' and as 'a drain' on so-called 'hard-working taxpayers'. Although Australia is not in an explicit economic austerity landscape, within our data-set, 'economic burden' attitudes were continually raised in relation to resource parameters of the NDIS, the very system that is designed to improve inclusion and provide support for people with disability in Australia.…”

“…A recent concern of the disability community has been the rise of online disability hate speech on social media platforms such as Twitter and Reddit, associated with broader ableism in society (Burch, 2017(Burch, , 2018. This online communication suggests a social slippage, challenging the steady progress towards community inclusion and empowerment for people with disabilities, as supported by the NDIS and other social policy initiatives.…”

“…Burch interrogated online ableist assertions that challenged the entitlement of people with disabilities to support services within the post global financial crisis austerity landscape of the UK. Burch (2017Burch ( : 1085 applauded the Twitter-hashtag-activism of the Down syndrome community who used the hashtags #worldwithoutdowns and #justaboutcoping as counter-responses to ignorant perceptions of Down syndrome as something only 'tragic and disastrous'. The #justaboutcoping hashtag was used as a mechanism of sarcasm and, in contrast to the hashtag name, presented life-affirming images of people with Down syndrome living full lives of 'joy, laughter, friendship and achievement' (Burch, 2017(Burch, : 1087.…”

“…Burch (2017Burch ( : 1085 applauded the Twitter-hashtag-activism of the Down syndrome community who used the hashtags #worldwithoutdowns and #justaboutcoping as counter-responses to ignorant perceptions of Down syndrome as something only 'tragic and disastrous'. The #justaboutcoping hashtag was used as a mechanism of sarcasm and, in contrast to the hashtag name, presented life-affirming images of people with Down syndrome living full lives of 'joy, laughter, friendship and achievement' (Burch, 2017(Burch, : 1087. In further research of online hate speech towards people with disability, Burch (2018) identified 24 Reddit threads that contained ableist terminology.…”

Stories of Madness: Exploring Resistance, Conformity, Resiliency, Agency, and Disengagement in Mental Health Narratives

“…Online activism and social media networks are calling for critical examinations of how people construct meanings around disability and mental health (Burch, 2017). Counternarratives that challenge public attitudes about disability and disablism have garnered media attention and given disabled persons a voice in debates that they would normally be excluded from (Theodorou & Mavrou, 2017).…”