MichAel Garcia
There are a few instances of stories that have been circulated through social media where individuals have stood up against the discrimination of individuals with Down syndrome. One posting in particular involved a male waiter at the restaurant Laurenzo’s named Michael Garcia (Vaughn 1). Mr. Garcia refused to wait on a group of individuals who asked to be moved to another table because they were seated next to a table that had an individual with Down syndrome present. This group of individuals had told the waiter that “Special needs kids should be kept in special places” (qtd. in Vaughn 1). Mr. Garcia did not hesitate when he refused to serve them. Mr. Garcia said, "He had considered he may lose his job, but he knew that the way these people treated the individual with Down syndrome was simply not right" (qtd. in Vaughn 1). Hundreds of people fled to social media to write words of praise upon the restaurants Facebook page for Michael Garcia.
This article shows how social media can be used as a positive reinforcement for the negative discrimination individuals with Down syndrome receive. All it takes is one person to post a
positive article and a few of his or her friends to share it with more people and eventually this story has reached a hundred people. If the individuals discriminating against individuals with Down syndrome would post the positive images or informative articles then discrimination would cease to exist.
This article shows how social media can be used as a positive reinforcement for the negative discrimination individuals with Down syndrome receive. All it takes is one person to post a
positive article and a few of his or her friends to share it with more people and eventually this story has reached a hundred people. If the individuals discriminating against individuals with Down syndrome would post the positive images or informative articles then discrimination would cease to exist.
Ema Louise Brown
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Another instance of social media being used for positive reinforcement occurred when Ema Louise Brown posted on the Down syndrome awareness page to portray her story. Ema took her children to Cineworld cinemas to watch the movie The Croods (Osborne 1). During the movie Ema was approached by two theater attendants who asked her to leave because her daughter was laughing too loud. Ema’s daughter has Down syndrome and she informed the attendants her daughter has the disability and can be rather loud at times (Osborne 1). Ema asked to speak to the manager, but was still required to leave the theater with her children. Ema’s story was spread through Facebook over one hundred times receiving praise for standing up for her child (Osborne 2). Cineworld released a statement stating, "To all those who have commented, we were extremely sorry to hear about Ema Louise Brown's experience with her family on Saturday. We are arranging for her to return to our cinema later this week to meet our senior management team and share views on how we can handle these situations more sensitively” (Osborne 2). Because of the people who chose to show support for this mother and her daughter and this mother telling her story on social media justice was served for the discrimination of this individual with Down syndrome. It takes multiple people to contribute to the change people want to see. The changes in social media discrimination starts with the people using these services.
Be the Change
Social media allows individuals to ruthlessly comment and discriminate against individuals with Down syndrome. The creators of these websites need to take it upon themselves to develop a system to review all comments, videos, or postings before they are allowed to be made a part of social media. If the social media outlets do not follow there own regulations why should the users abide by the same regulations? Facebook for instance as stated previously does not allow content that involves hate speech, violent organizations, or content that involves threats to others, but they do not institute there regulations. People are allowed to create and post whatever they feel necessary.
Would these people who choose to discriminate against individuals with Down syndrome do so it they did not have a computer to hide behind? The majority of people do not like confrontation, so at all cost they will avoid causing trouble. If people would not discriminate
against individuals with Down syndrome in public then why post discriminatory comments and images online. Whether the discrimination is happening in public or behind a computer
screen it is still considered discrimination. The change begins with the individuals causing the
discrimination. The change begins with you.
Would these people who choose to discriminate against individuals with Down syndrome do so it they did not have a computer to hide behind? The majority of people do not like confrontation, so at all cost they will avoid causing trouble. If people would not discriminate
against individuals with Down syndrome in public then why post discriminatory comments and images online. Whether the discrimination is happening in public or behind a computer
screen it is still considered discrimination. The change begins with the individuals causing the
discrimination. The change begins with you.