Samantha Renke faced horrendous online abuse after she appeared in the Malteasers ads last year. In her vlog as part of Everybody launch week, Samantha discusses her experiences of cyberbullying, how she reacted and what needs to be done to ensure that disabled people are not subject to trolling.
According to the disability charity Scope not enough people know or interact with disabled people in real life. Because of that they often don't know what to do. They panic, or worse, just avoid situations for fear of doing the wrong thing. Research by the charity show (43%) of the British public do not personally know someone with a disability and the majority of the British public (67%) admit that they feel uncomfortable talking to disabled people. Scope also found that younger people feel uncomfortable around disabled people and all too often go out of their way to avoid talking to disabled people altogether
Samantha Renke supports the disability charity Scope. Find out more about how the charity drives everyday equality, so that disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else.
HuffPost UK Lifestyle has launched EveryBody, a new section calling for better equality and inclusivity for people living with disability and invisible illness. The aim is to empower those whose voices are not always heard and redefine attitudes to identity, lifestyle and ability in 2017. We'll be covering all manner of lifestyle topics - from health and fitness to dating, sex and relationships.
We'd love to hear your stories. To blog for the section, please email ukblogteam@huffingtonpost.com with the subject line 'EveryBody'. To flag any issues that are close to your heart, please email natasha.hinde@huffingtonpost.com, again with the subject line 'EveryBody'.
Join in the conversation with #HPEveryBody on Twitter and Instagram.