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This woman has spoken out after discovering her photo was used for a mean meme
THERE ARE HUNDREDS of thousands of pictures and memes shared on Facebook every day, a lot of them calling upon you to ‘tag a friend’ for a laugh. This woman is asking us to be a bit more mindful of the people behind these memes.
AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
Lizzie Velasquez was born with a rare congenital disease that prevents her from accumulating body fat, and is blind in her right eye.
Ten years ago, when Velasquez was 17, a YouTube video cruelly branded her the ‘world’s ugliest woman’ – since then, she has spoken out against bullying, even delivering a TED talk on the subject (which is a great listen).
On Sunday, she saw that someone had made a crude meme using a picture of her and posted it on Facebook:
Facebook / Lizzie Velasquez Facebook / Lizzie Velasquez / Lizzie Velasquez
In a post responding to the image, she wrote that it’s important to understand that the people behind these kinds of memes are human too.
AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
Velasquez’s post has been shared over 87,000 times, leading to the meme being removed – she’s been praised for highlighting the issue:
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all human Bullying lizzie velasquez Meme win of the day win/fail