There is nothing I love more than a group of people coming together to rally in aiding someone in need.  That is exactly what happened with Natalie Weaver.  Natalie has a daughter named Sophia who has Rett syndrome.  Rett syndrome is an extremely rare neurological disorder that affects nearly every aspect of Sophia’s life.  Such as her ability to eat, walk, talk, and even breathe.  Natalie reached out on Twitter one day to talk about the changes to Medicaid and how it would affect her and her family.

Sadly after that, Natalie was attacked about her daughter.  She received several cruel and heartless tweets advocating for coerced abortion and practices equivalent to eugenics. Ok, I’m not sure about you, but I’m about 99% positive that NONE of us would still be here if we practiced the idea of eugenics today.  No one is perfect, and no one has perfectly desirable traits to be spared from the idea of eugenics.

Once Natalie received those tweets, she reported them to Twitter and asked her followers to do the same.  She hoped that they be removed or the account would be shutdown. However, the tweets, and the account both remained.  This user even went so far as to call out Natalie and her followers.  The user was baiting her, viscously trying to start a war.

Natalie once again asked her followers to report the tweet and the account.  This time THOUSANDS of people responded!!!  After a week and a half of pressure, Twitter finally responded.  They apologized for their error, took down the tweet, and suspended the user.

Talk about a victory!  Natalie is one fierce mom who clearly will do anything and everything to protect Sophia.  I think one reason this story is so important to me is that it highlights just how crucial it is to be an advocate for our children. Especially if our child has a disability.  Sophia can’t talk.  Instead, Natalie has taken the bull by the horns and has become Sophia’s voice.

Besides advocating for Sophia, Natalie is the founder of Advocates for Medically Fragile Kids, an organization that strives to preserve the rights of children like Sophia. She is also on the founder’s council for the United States of Care, a non-profit that fights for accessible, affordable solutions for health care.

I hope that as Orange Socks and our followers continue to educate and share inspiring stories, situations like this will become nonexistent.

Story found on CNN