Social media has been a powerful platform for activists and citizens across for highlighting different issues, mostly with a positive impact. Things, however, turned out differently for a blind man in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.
Mangtan xiaolongdan has been at the receiving end of negative and even abusive reactions by trolls for posting content that showcase lack of accessibility around him.
The blind creator has been sharing content with an aim to raise public awareness about people with disabilities. Mangtan’s videos, most of which are about his daily struggles as a person with blindness, had never received widespread attention beyond the disability community.
But almost overnight, a five-second clip posted on August 1 thrust him to the forefront of a national conversation, as well as the receiving end of a barrage of abusive insults, as per a news report in SupChina.
In the clip, Mangtan can be seen in an elevator that doesn’t have Braille numbers on floor buttons. Struggling to get to his destination, he says, “I can’t see the numbers. And there’s no Braille signs or voice announcers. This is so difficult. I hope elevators will be more user-friendly in the future.”
The video is no different from the creator’s other posts, but it strangely struck a chord among Douyin users. As of today, the elevator clip has racked up over 5.2 million views and almost 3,000 comments on the platform. Much of the feedback, to the blogger’s surprise, was shockingly offensive and vile.
“Why do you have so many complaints? Who do you think you are to ask for changes made just for you?” a comment reads. Another user wrote, “Survival of the fittest. It costs too much to please you.”
Many of the responses also revealed that the blogger was part of a poorly understood group of people, who, apparently unbeknownst to many sighted internet users, share digital space with them every single day. “Are you actually blind? How do you use this platform if you can’t see?” a Douyin user questioned.
The comments, however, did not stop Mangtan from trying to educate the public with more videos. On August 17, he shared a video of a tactile pavement that led to a dead end. In another video posted on September 1, he showed how inconvenient it was to get through an airport without sight. In direct response to people who tried to shut him down by calling him a liar, Mangtan also filmed himself demonstrating an official document that verified his vision disability.
Mangtan’s persistent efforts also gained a legion of supportive followers, who called out (in Chinese) the abusive trolls in several viral posts this week. “Apparently, some people are sighted but mentally ill,” a Weibo user wrote.
