There was a new trend that knocked on TikTok’s doors. While other digital users continued to post pop-ish and dubbed content, there was a quirky craze that skyrocketed under the guise of a humor-evoking attempt, but fell short when its intention pivoted back to the troll culture. This time, the crosshair centered on the differently abled people, transforming them into baskets that caught the laughingstock chunks of the virtual users.
TikTok had its platform shaken by the storm when a new trend rose to its heights, intending to take an insensitive shot at the Disabled Community. The dubbed "New Teacher Challenge" reached its stardom in early August, bearing its pervading character that lied in adults, mostly mothers, who pretended to be on a video call with their children's "new teacher." Instead of meeting their teacher, they showed a picture of a differently abled person to their children who reacted with an appalled expression.
Laughter echoed as the trend hit a milestone, hurling the hashtag #NewTeacherChallenge to a massive 16 million viewership and attracting other participants to follow suit. Twitter users expressed their heartfelt joy as some of them wrote that “the #NewTeacherChallenge on TikTok is hilarious! The kids’ faces kill me.” The brash upload of such a lighthearted string of words caused the Disabled Community to call out the video challenge and put a stop on the online show.
Marching at the forefront of the loathsome trend was Lizzie Velasquez. Lizzie was born with Marfanoid-progeroid-lipodystrophy syndrome, a rare condition that hinders her to gain weight, affects her facial features, and has long blinded her one eye. Growing up, she embarked on a journey to fight off both offline and online bullying, gathering a loyal following who is awakened enough to know that she has deserved no repugnant comments on how she looks.
As CNN reported, a Youtube user uploaded a video of Lizzie and titled it as “World’s Ugliest Woman.” She was just 17 and in the phase of reaping the glory of her youth. Day by day, the digital world took a dig at her heart as they encouraged her to just “take her own life” and stay out of the crowd so she would not “blind them with her appearance.” At a young age, Lizzie had to toughen herself up to face the consequences of the Youtube user’s actions. The accountability may have hidden well, but it soon circled back to Lizzie who had to muster enough courage to stand strong for herself.
Not only does she protect herself from the trolls that lurk online, but she has taken the oath as a full-fledged guardian of the differently abled people. It’s not surprising to find out she broadcasted her powerful sentiments on Instagram against the new trend as soon as she realized that one picture that had circulated for the video challenge was hers.
“When I saw the trend, I knew it was coming,” she wrote. “Showing your kids a photo of someone who looks different in hopes of them having a scared reaction is vile. They don’t have the platform to speak on this, but I do, and I know I have an army of positive people right next to me. I will say this over and over and over: the people you put in photos or videos are human beings! We have feelings, and we have something we work on everyday called self-confidence. Please don’t teach your children that it’s funny to be afraid of someone who doesn’t look like them.”
Melissa Blake found herself under the same limelight. Once people got over the pictures of Lizzie, they nodded well to Melissa’s portrait, who was born with Freeman-Sheldon syndrome or a genetic bone and muscular disorder. In her lifetime, she has received hate-fueled messages that take on her looks with some suggesting that she stops posting her pictures online since she’s “too ugly.”
Melissa had thought the piling hate messages simmered down, but they soon racked up again after the #NewTeacherChallenge took off to an extra dimension. She didn’t have a TikTok account, but concerned loved ones alerted her that her pictures landed on the platform for users to laugh at. She had a fair share of watching the cruel videos where mothers showed her pictures to their children, cueing in gasps and horrified expressions while the video rolled.
Melissa shared her distaste about the clear mockery to the Disabled Community on Refinery29. “I’m not laughing, though, because none of this is funny. I’m utterly disgusted,” she wrote. The worst part buzzed around the mothers who had spearheaded the video challenge. Those who joined the bandwagon enjoyed their own skit without thinking of the repercussions it would cause to the differently able community.
The parents, crowned as the figures who nurture and protect their children with their intuitive wisdom and championed guidance, have taken the dark path by investing their free time in ambushing, whether or not unconsciously, those who they think are “different” from them. Not only are their actions considered as a waste of dignity but also a knife to the graceful philosophy of parenting.
Their children, who aspire to mirror their characters, are blindsided by their innocence and youthful mind. They might think their mothers’, or parents, deeds are acceptable and justified. Their delicate virtues might be molded into vicious-filled thinking derived from their parents’ actions. The trend sets a normalized standard that it won’t hurt to cackle at the expense of differently abled people. There’s a lingering vibe of absurdity that coils around the notion, and those who haven’t realized the aftermath of their actions are the people who grew up embracing a twisted mindset.
TikTok responded late to the overwhelming crash of the trend. Once a user taps on the hashtag, results no longer show up. While this reverberates a resolved action, it fails to dismantle the harm it has caused for not taking concrete steps to shut the trend down. Based on Melissa’s narrative, TikTok didn’t neutralize the video challenge since it didn’t “violate the platform’s community guidelines.” It entails an in-depth exploration to the company’s welfare values and exclusivity of the “broad” audience it means to serve.
Parents are challenged to step up their game. Their culture acquisition looks for a quick reframing, and one way to act on its pursuit is to showcase compassion and solicitude. Our Disabled Community wears a variety of capabilities and possessing such qualities doesn’t make them any less of a human being. They are people. They own human emotions that crack and tighten when assailed. The earlier this realization dawns in the minds of our supposed cultured society, the less harrowing cases of cyberbullying over Disabled Community will hark back.
Matthew Burgos doesn’t talk to people. He interviews them then writes their story, peppering the narratives with descriptive words. He’s a student of Broadcast Journalism, International Relations, and Law, an English tutor, an aspiring journalist, and a die-hard, 90%-dark-chocolate glutton.
For more information about Matthew Burgos you can email him at Matthew@SporkAbility.org
Cover Photo: Anna Ginsburg and Melissa Kitty Jarram