As you may have seen this week, pages and groups featuring photographs and videos of short statured individuals have been shared and promoted on the Meta platforms.
The SSPA condemn these groups as well as the actions of the contributors. These views were highlighted by our public submission to the recent Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with disability. Being filmed without consent is an abuse of our human right to access and move around public spaces without having to be subjected to this kind of violence, abuse, and exploitation.
All individuals have the right to participate in the community in a way that allows them the same privacy, anonymity, freedom, respect, and safety as anyone else. Everyone with dwarfism deals with curiosity daily; we are all ignorant of what we don’t understand. Curiousness at its best is a powerful tool for greater knowledge in the community, normalising difference and making the community a more inclusive place. However, these pages and contributions are not a product of curiosity, it is abusive and malicious behaviour.
To combat this behaviour, we need to foster a more inclusive respectful culture for diversity. All people should be treated with respect and not objectified or treated differently. Our thoughts are with everyone in the community that these pages have impacted, and we are here to help anyone who needs support.
Moving forward, we are communicating with Police services, Meta and the new eSafety commission. We are working toward ensuring these groups cannot be created and creators of this abuse are held accountable.
As things progress, we will continue to keep our members and the community informed on our actions.
Contact Us: [email protected]
Additional Support Services:
Police Emergency – 000
Non urgent assistance on 131 444 or by Googling Police contact us for the web page.
1800Respect: 1800 737 732 www.1800respect.org.au
Lifeline: 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au
13YARN: 13 92 76 www.13yarn.org.au
Switchboard: www.switchboard.org.au