Wow, what a day. Social media Shitstorm. started when I awoke this morning and at 10:15pm it’s still going. Yesterday’s blog entry sparked it off. It really took off in a whole bunch of directions. The most prominent was that of he use of the publicly shared image from Facebook on my post here.
I made an error of judgement on not pixelating or blurring or whiting out the face. For that I am sorry and I did make moves to rectify this.
Much could be said about the appropriateness of using it or not using it. The legal implications or not. Whether it was right to call it out or not. But that’s not what I want to talk about in this post.
What I do want to talk about though is the little fact that The Internet is Forever. Yes. You post it to the internet. Whether it’s Facebook, twitter, google plus or whatever. It is forever. It will exist forever somewhere, ready to be used by someone. That’s just the way it is. Whether this situation is ideal, right, or wrong is actually irrelevant.
Every website ever produced exists somewhere. It really does.
Microsoft website – Circa 1996
Hewlett Packard again Circa 1996
Google 1999 – Yes there was an internet before google.
Oh look it’s the now ubiquitous Facebook. 2005
And here is the Netscape site from 1996.
There is a little website called the wayback machine, it allows you to go back and see what sites looked like. The same site also has a whole lot of other things. Check it out. It’s called The internet archive. And it all goes to show that it really is true the internet really is forever.
So where am I going with this, you may wonder. Well may you wonder. I am making a point here. The point is to think twice, three times or more times before you post things online. Especially when it is your kids.
Autism groups seem to be a particular place where inappropriate photos are at times the norm rather than the exception. And yes I’m talking nudity, faeces smearing, kids in baths, kids in nappies, etc etc etc. It is all there.
I have experienced a shit storm of criticism for re-posting the photograph of the boy who had the Autism hair cut, yet the mother who posted it was praised and applauded. It don’t make a lot of sense to me.
On top of this I appeal to the Autism parents out there to please try to listen to the Autistics that say, this is not okay to do to your child. Please listen. We care. Remember, please, we are the community that your children are growing into. We care about their wellbeing. We care that they get the chance to be honoured as valuable human beings, able to be who they are.
We really do care. Yes we get angry, because we see their rights ignored and set aside. We really do care, yes we are critical, to the point, but no we don’t mean to be nasty. We see our brother and sister Âûtistics dignity taken from them and in ways that seem to be more about the parents right to post and choose than about the child’s right to human dignity, respect and privacy.
I implore you autism parents. Please think once twice three times and then some more before you post about your child’s meltdown, their poop smear, their whatever it is that’s a bit quirky. Remember that that pic you post in a matter of moments can travel the world and back and by the time your young charge lines up outside their classroom their classmates have ripe material to bully and ridicule them.
Autism parents, all parents. Please think before you post. And please. Remember it’s not always all about you.
Yeah, I had someone get pissed because I reposted the link of the child having a sensory meltdown with a link to a “please respect your child’s privacy”. Got the “well, you just did it so You’re wrong”; “take it down, I didn’t give YOU permission”, and then had a friend of theirs (the poster herself was polite) stalk and insult me on MY page for not “being respectful” (???). The post was on a blog where the person “gave permission” to post it – but they just don’t get that once it’s somewhere, it’s share-able. Or they don’t care, because they’re “helping”. But they don’t protect their kids’ privacy. It’s amazingly frustrating.