Yesterday I had my first experience of being targeted by an Internet troll. 

It’s not something I was hoping to experience, especially when the target was really Audrey, but I’m glad we’ve got it out of the way.

Several months ago one of the DS families I follow on Instagram had some nasty comments on a photo; something along the lines of “you should have aborted this ugly baby”. And it made my stomach churn. How could anyone say such a thing? Why would they say it? And it scared me and made me feel concerned about sharing pictures of Audrey.

Audrey’s troll left a comment and tagged another account, so the two different accounts had a little chat back and forth on one of her pictures. However I don’t know which picture and I didn’t understand all the “banter” or “abuse”, because they used code or strange slang and then deleted it all. But I had seen the notification on my iPhone, so I could still look at the comments even after they’d gone from Instagram. It wasn’t so bad. Account A says to Account B; “Aww it’s a cute retard”. Account B says “jcl XD” And there’s a bit of random letters and then “Bye”. I found both accounts and blocked them, so that was that.

But I do feel a bit… “exposed”. I share our life with Audrey to spread a positive message and I’m usually filled with pride and a warm fuzzy feeling from all our “likes” and comments. The trolls are rare, but they are still out there… 

Of course I won’t let them stop me sharing, Audrey has more fans than trolls! But if any potential trolls are reading this; please remember there’s a real person behind the computer screen/iPhone/tablet and they might be genuinely hurt by your “funny” comment. We are a real family and share our lives online to show what love looks like – it doesn’t see disability, that’s for sure and it would never, ever, use the word “retard”.
My beautiful little girl (doesn’t she look grown up??):