TikTok's 'Autism Challenge' faces Twitter backlash for mocking people with special needs

An Autism Challenge has started on TikTok and is receiving a lot of backlash. While it is being shared as a trend, this challenge is considered extremely offensive as it is mocking those who have autism. Several also took to Twitter and spoke against the trend. 

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TikTok's Autism Challange criticised by Twitterati

The Autism Challenge on TikTok consists of people mocking autism behaviour and pretending to have seizures. These videos are then shared with the hashtag #autismchallenge. However, TikTok as a platform has since appeared to have deleted the hashtag. 

According to the UK's National Autistic Society, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person relates and communicates with other people and how they experience the world around them. It is present in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, though it is said to be more prevalent in men than in women. As of 2020, USA's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported that roughly 1 in 54 children have been identified with ASD. 

TikTok had reportedly created the Autism Challenge to help raise awareness about autism. But this initiative has gone awry as people are making cruel and insensitive content. Despite originating on TikTok, reports say that the videos are being shared largely to Facebook, though several netizens have asked for them to be taken down there as well.

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Twitter reacts to insensitive challenge

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