Breaking My Silence After My Viral Video
It’s time for me to break my silence.
I recently had a video go viral. It was originally shared by Today Show. When all was said and done the video has nearly 20 million views. You can see it here.
First, welcome to all of my new followers. Nearly 20,000 of you on Facebook and thousands more visited this website and found me on Instagram. I am so happy to have you here. I want you to know this a tight community where we celebrate the unique joys and struggles that accompany raising a child with a disability. And within every single post is lots of love.
Second, it’s time for me to break my silence about my viral video. The outpouring of love and support has been absolutely amazing. So thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you. But along with that comes hate, bullying, and parent shaming. That’s the awful side. That’s the side where I have to go to my children’s school and say names and show pictures of evil people so they are aware. That’s the side where I realize that there are dangerous people in this world that hide behind computers.
If a mother being an absolute wreck thinking about her vulnerable nonverbal, delayed son’s life after she is dead causes you hate and rage, I’m not sure if this is the right place for you.
If a mother speaking about loving a child more than herself causes you hate and rage, I’m positive this isn’t the place for you.
If that mother worrying about the future and switching from hope to realistic hope causes you to swear, create videos about her, create pages of hate, then I definitely know this isn’t the place for you.
It’s wrong.
My message:
https://youtu.be/ohp5oZ47ZQE
When all was said and done the video had nearly 20 million views. And 99.9% positivity came my way. I also learned that my page is too big to continue sharing my life in the same manner. Which, I guess, was bound to happen. But I am going to start writing again! I love it and miss it. I am rethinking my strategy going forward.
Also, I’m going to focus on guest posts in March. So, if you are a writer reach out! I’d love to hear from you. The audience for my website is families who have children with special needs.
Jamie and I plan to do a video in the next couple of weeks where we will answer common questions like, why do we share our life, why did we start this, etc. Videos aren’t done friends. Just taking a break.
Lastly, I won’t tolerate any hate towards me, my family, my friends, parents that are killing themselves to give their child their best lives, or hate against writers. These writers are amazing people. No bullying, harassing, stalking, belittling, humiliating, threatening, ganging up, swearing, etc., will be allowed. I have multiple admins watching my page.
Also, when all was said and done, I received over 1,500 messages and emails. On a typical day I receive 50-100 a day. I can’t respond to all of them. I work full time, have two kids, blah, blah. I’ve turned off messaging because I know how frustrating it is to send one and not hear back. I sincerely apologize. I’d love to respond to each and everyone, but, it’s just too many.
But per the usual, love always wins. Thank you for being here. And welcome.
Finding Cooper’s Voice is a safe, humorous, caring and honest place where you can celebrate the unique challenges of parenting a special needs child. Because you’re never alone in the struggles you face. And once you find your people, your allies, your village….all the challenges and struggles will seem just a little bit easier. Welcome to our journey. You can also follow us on Facebook and subscribe to our newsletter.
Dear Kate,
I’ve been following your blog and vlog. I am sorry to hear about the stress that you have to deal with due to the backlash you’ve facing from some autism activists, the neurodiversity crowd.
I don’t know if that makes you feel better, but even high functioning autistics suffer bullying from these autism activists if their messages don’t agree with the neurodiversity narrative (that autism is just a difference or even better a gift) or if they advocate for a cure. Even though I have HFA I stay away from them because they wouldn’t tolerate me disagreeing with their message and it would give me too much stress. Unfortunately, I am not that strong,
Stay strong and keep fighting.
All the best.