How Can We Re-Imagine Social Media To Stop Microaggressions Against Disabled Folks?

In an effort to re-imagine social media, some participants from the study suggested protecting disabled people through stricter community guidelines that remove users for ableist behaviors. Others suggested that platforms take the responsibility to educate their users about ableism and disability.

The authors found that:

Some participants wanted improvements to reporting and moderation on social media. [One participant] explained that there is a lack of transparency and accountability when reporting a post. With their personal experience reporting on Tumblr and Twitter, they were unaware if “someone who is reported has actually been punished” … Some participants felt frustrated when the algorithms removed hateful posts without context. For instance, on a Facebook group to talk about abuse and trauma, [one participant] had a post removed because it included hateful words that was a part of someone’s experience rather than being directed at anyone.

Due to their so-called subtle, unconscious or unintentional nature, microaggressions easily slip through the cracks in current social media models of blocking and reporting, that might rely on algorithms that are designed to pick up relatively more aggressive and violent forms of hate speech.

As a way forward to make social media safe and accessible to disabled people, the authors share:

Participants suggested that social media should educate users about disability and ableism, as a preventive measure to reduce microaggressions. For example, some wanted improvements in current community guidelines, wishing for explicit policies around ableism. Such community norms can educate and disincentivize perpetrators from being ableist. One participant proposed that the platform, instead of other users, can combat microaggressions when they occur.