Bernie Finn, Victorian Liberal MP, slammed for edited 'abelist' meme of Daniel Andrews
Quote:
Victoria’s Shadow Minister for Autism has been accused of mocking people with a disability after posting a heavily-edited photo of Premier Daniel Andrews.
Liberal MP Bernie Finn on Thursday shared the picture of Andrews with crossed eyes, captioned: “If 2020 was a person.”
“No argument here!” Finn wrote alongside the picture.
The tweet was immediately slammed for the “disgusting” image - with some calling for Finn to “resign or be sacked”.
After 10 hours, the meme was deleted from his social media platform.
He subsequently issued an apology for causing “some concern in certain quarters”.
“As someone who has experienced disability in his family for many years, I have never set out to deliberately insult or offend anyone with a disability. NEVER!” he said.
“To those who are today using people with disabilities and their families as a political weapon, you have my most fulsome contempt.”
Post with a picture in the linked article.
I saw a snarky post that is probably a 2 on a negative political post scale of 1 to 10, not an ableist one. The edited photo has Andrews looking clueless, not autistic. Perhaps our Australian members can enlighten me but any "ableism" is inferred because of who they are. Finn is the minister that deals with Autism and Andrews has an autistic adult son so the post must be intentionally depicting Andrews as Autistic. The Finn is a MAGA "clinches" it.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
20 Nov 2020, 5:27 am
