Disabled blogger 'banned from posting selfies' because she was 'too ugly' claps back at haters by posting more photos of herself
Blogger Melissa Blake decided to fight back after she was trolled online for her appearance.
The 38-year-old writer suffers from a rare birth defect but has never let her disability keep her from chasing her passion. She launched a blog called 'So About What I Said' which aims to break down the taboos about people with disabilities. However, being on the digital platform also meant attracting haters who left vile comments on her blog posts.
"During the last round of trollgate, people said that I should be banned from posting photos of myself because I’m too ugly. So I’d just like to commemorate the occasion with these three selfies." she wrote on her Twitter page earlier this month as she shared three selfies.
She followed her post with a thread of tweets, where she explained why it was okay to be different. "I'm getting so tired of people (read: men) thinking it's OK to insult a woman's appearance. Yes, my disability makes me different. Trust me, I know that. I've known that my entire life. And people wonder why I've struggled so much with self-acceptance when it comes to how I look and our society's notion of what 'beautiful' is. It's because of comments like these, comments that dismiss me and deem me unworthy. This is just one more example of the type if ableism that people with disabilities face every day and it's something I'm constantly trying to change," she said.
Melissa suffers from Freeman Sheldon syndrome which, according to the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, is a birth defect that is "characterized by joint deformities that restrict movement in the hands and feet and abnormalities of the head and face. People with this syndrome have a small mouth with pursed lips, giving the appearance of a 'whistling face.' Other facial features may include a prominent forehead and brow ridges, a short nose and area between the nose and mouth, widely spaced eyes, a narrowing of the eye-opening, droopy eyelids, and a small tongue and jaw."
People suffering from this particular condition may experience speech, eating, and respiratory problems, along with hearing loss, and growth and delayed development.
Melissa has undergone 26 operations due to her physical condition.
The trolling started when another YouTuber mentioned her opinion piece about the growing campaign on unfollowing President Donald Trump on Twitter.
"Reminder that this is what it’s like to be a disabled woman writer on the internet AND #ThisIsAmerica in 2019: A conservative YouTuber mentioned my recent op-ed about #UnfollowTrump. The comments? I’m fat, ugly and look like a blob fish, a parade balloon and a potato with a face," she wrote in a tweet last month, where people left distasteful comments on how she looked.
Her recent Twitter posts have gone viral with overwhelming support pouring in from her followers. One of them even tagged talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, requesting her to invite Melissa on her show.