There’s plenty of memes out there on the internet that uses the photos and faces of people.
The question is, have we ever considered who the people are in these memes?
And on top of that, how their lives have been affected and changed by their so-called “15 minutes of fame”?
We use these photos with wild abandon, never once considering to acquire the explicit permission of the person in the photo.
That seems to be the nature of the internet – images spread like wildfire, and before you know it, your likeness has entered the public domain and there is no turning back.
As many people say, the internet never forgets.
Thankfully, some of the folks behind some of the most prolific memes within the last few years have gone on record to state that they are okay, even amused with their internet fame.
Some have even taken advantage of it, like the child behind the “Success Kid” meme who used his fame to crowdfund a GoFundMe campaign for his dad’s kidney transplant, which saved his dad’s life.
Unfortunately, not all meme photos are happy stories such as this one.
Jennifer Wilkinson is a woman whose photo of an unfortunate accident has now turned her into a viral meme.
What had happened was that six years ago she was at a grocery store with her husband.
While trying to reach out for a case for soda for her husband, she fell out of her Rascal scooter and the resulting image was snapped by a couple of nearby teenagers while she was in distress.
Her image quickly became a meme, and she became a laughing stock.
Now, this brave woman is coming out to share her side of her story and make a point about bullying.
Wilkinson was diagnosed at a young age with spondylolisthesis, a back condition where one of the bones in her spine is out of place.
Since the spine affects her posture, this means she has difficulty standing or walking. It even has affected her balance.
This was not a surprise diagnosis – according to Wilkinson, back conditions runs in her family, and she was diagnosed prior to any weight gain.
Nevertheless, a combination of severe depression and PTSD in conjunction with her preexisting condition led to her putting on weight to the extreme.
Used to being picked on for her appearance, she had disregarded the laughter and snide remarks made by the teenagers that day as they took her picture.
Six years between then and now has given her room for hindsight, and as she looks back on that day she calls it a low point in her life.
She points out how people seem to find disabled people acceptable targets to laugh at, and wants to remind the public at large to remember that they know nothing about those they are making fun of or the struggles they undergo.
Considering all that she has gone through then, she is showing great strength and in using her story to implore people to think twice about making fun of people.
