Recent trends on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok have seen alarming misuse of AI filters, with individuals superimposing typical Down syndrome facial features on scantily clad women in provocative scenarios. This disturbing phenomenon drives traffic to adult content sites and has raised significant concerns among disability advocates regarding fetishization and exploitation. Individual testimonies from people with Down syndrome, like Charlotte Woodward, express feelings of anger and fear for safety, highlighting the potential harm these portrayals could inflict on vulnerable communities.
"It makes me feel a myriad of things," Charlotte Woodward, a 35-year-old woman with Down Syndrome told The Post. "Not only do I find it disturbing, I find it personally upsetting. I also feel anger and outrage."
Woodward, who works as a Programs Associate for the National Down Syndrome Society believes this sort of content puts people like her in harm's way. "I just feel as if it's putting people with Down syndrome at risk of sexual abuse and sexual assault," she worried.
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