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Shane Burcaw, a popular social media influencer who shares his experiences of being disabled, has spoken publicly about receiving hateful comments online.
Recently there has been a TikTok trend whereby people will post 'fails' of them swimming or diving, alongside the caption: "Sorry to announce I did not qualify for the 2024 US Olympic diving team.'
Burcaw, and his wife, Hannah, decided to partake in the trend.
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The influencer lives with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a genetic disease that weakens muscles in the shoulders, hips, thighs and upper back, making it mobility difficult.
His take on the trend was his wife Hannah holding him in a pool and dunking him.
Sadly, a lot of responses didn't share the same good nature.
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Some people even questioned why his wife is married to him.
Others went so far as to suggest leaving him in the pool.
As per Business Insider, the happy couple have been together for eight years and married for three.
In a now-viral Instagram post, Burcaw addressed the hate comments head on.
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He wrote: "Hi everyone, Shane here. This one hurts to write, but it needs to be done.
"We currently have a silly video going viral, which should be cause for celebration. Instead, it’s forcing me to confront the painful fact that literally hundreds of thousands of people hate me and think I’m worthless because of my disability. I’ll explain…
"The video is quite simple: there’s a trend going around of people posting funny clips of themselves failing miserably at sports, with an ironic caption that 'announces' that they did not qualify for the Olympics this year.
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"This kind of self-deprecating humour is right up our alley, so we joined the trend and posted a quick video of me 'diving' into a pool.
He continued: "As of right now, the video has almost 20 million views. In our work, that’s a major success. I should be ecstatic. I should be proud. I should be celebrating.
"But do you know what makes it tough to feel those things? The comments pouring into the video. Let me share some of the brutally ignorant and aggressively hateful things people felt compelled to say on this lighthearted and fun video I created.
"The very top comment says, 'It’s always important to wash your vegetables,' referring to me as the vegetable. It has 97,000+ likes. That means almost one hundred thousand real humans on this earth agree with this humiliating insult!
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"The next one, with 79,000 likes: 'I still struggle to see that they are in a relationship.”'
"10,000 likes: 'One day she’s not going to pull him back up.”'
"And another: 'Dating him is like doing charity work.”'
'You should just drown him.”'
"There are thousands more just like these. Thousands."
He concluded: "I’m tired, guys."
What's the saying about not having anything nice to say again?
Thankfully, the comments to Shane's post were much more supportive.
One person responded: "It’s exhausting to educate educate educate, and still get horrific messages… I had a video blow up and it was the same thing… disabled people deserve to be treated with the same respect as everyone else. We are DONE and TIRED."
Someone else lovingly added: "We see your value. We see your worth. We see your love."
Another said: "What a shame. I wish the world would know the Shane that I know."
While others called for those who said such hateful comments to be exposed, the rest echoed warm and encouraging responses to the influencer.
Topics: Health, Sex and Relationships, Social Media, Instagram, Mental Health
Kya Buller