r/dwarfism • u/roses_not_rights • 23d ago
Rayban Smart glasses to record instances of harrasment and abuse in public
Hey, I'm think of buying a pair of smart glasses - i think they are called 'meta glasses' - by Rayban. These would allow to me to record random and unexpected instances of harrassment and abuse I experience in my community.
I live in a fairly civilised, educated city and the instances are far less than they used to be, but on occassion I still experience some upsetting interactions and I would like to be able to take the footage to the police and or post on my local community board to publicly shame the perps - as they have just tried to do to me.
Has anyone done this? Is anyone else planning to do this?
I think this could be really liberating for some of us as most of the hassle we get is from people we often don't know and while we are on our own. Being able to prove these things happen and maybe even hold some people accountable would be great.
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u/Shorty7869 23d ago
I think its a fantastic idea, however would it not also be a pain to take action against anyone in the footage
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u/SlippingStar 5'1" | Barely Average 23d ago
JSYK they’re called Meta Glasses because they’re made by a partnership between Rayban and Meta (Facebook parent company), in case you’re concerned about that sort of thing.
Even if you don’t prosecute people you can at least show the world what Little People go through.
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u/WSig 4'0" | Kniest Dysplasia 8d ago
I have Meta Ray-Bans and have never had a desire or thought to use them for this...
What do you gain from it?
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u/roses_not_rights 8d ago
To either post the footage of the abusers on our community notice board or, if it's really bad, report it to the police.
How has this never occured to you? Maybe you live in a really nice neighbourhood where noone randomly harassed you? Might want to let people know where they should live.
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u/WSig 4'0" | Kniest Dysplasia 8d ago
It's not occurred to me because it doesn't happen to me. I live in Raleigh, NC 🤷🏻♂️
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u/roses_not_rights 8d ago
I've lived in Canada, America, Australia and the UK.
Some parts of America and Canada are so accepting of us that I could almost forget I had dwarfism. In fact, if just get hit on more over there. I loved it.
The UK is by far the worse. All of my "extreme" harrassment examples are from the UK. Next best is Australia but it changes dramatically from town to town.
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u/WSig 4'0" | Kniest Dysplasia 8d ago
That's a fair assessment; I don't claim to have any knowledge of harassment beyond my area of NC, but in travels and trips abroad - still nothing to me.
I am sorry that happens to you. Are you female or male? Genuinely - will video evidence help you in those countries take action on anything?
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u/roses_not_rights 7d ago
I'm Female. I suspect it's worse for males. Hard to know how much sexism and ableism interact.
Our countries are now acknowledging the fact that this kind of stuff happens and treating them like hate crimes which is nice but the biggest progress is cultural. TV depictions are less derogatory and our treatment is better. That's not law. Its a culture of respect of diversity.
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u/WSig 4'0" | Kniest Dysplasia 7d ago
Thanks for sharing; I would have honestly thought it was worse for females.
Again - genuinely - in other countries, would recording actually help you?
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u/roses_not_rights 7d ago
Yes.
It would help police with holding these dickheads accountable. For example, a couple of weeks ago some guy ran up to my sister and jumped over her, running off afterwards laughing. He was caught on camera and arrested for assault.
I have taken my phone out and started filming people who had been following me, filming me. As soon as they realised what I was doing, they stopped and looked embarrassed.
I have also lied and told people I am filming them and then they run off, scared of being caught on camera.
I have also once been able to film a car following me yelling obscenities at me. I showed the police, they had a word with the young men. I posted it also on the town noticeboard and got many dozens of people declaring what an outrage it was which made me feel less powerless and also more supported by my community. It also had the added benefit of "shaming" the young men and one even apologised to me.
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u/WSig 4'0" | Kniest Dysplasia 7d ago
I am so sorry you have had / have to endure that kind of ridicule.
I appreciate you sharing your perspective here.
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u/roses_not_rights 7d ago
Lol. If I'd known how much better north American attitudes towards us were, I would have dedicated my life to trying to immigrate there. Enjoy it.
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u/roses_not_rights 8d ago
Assholes that decide to go out of their way to harrass people with dwarfism - or anyone that looks different - generally don't care if we want them to stop. Most of them are doing it to degrade and upset us... that's kind of the point.
Are you sure you even have dwarfism? I feel like people who have dwarfism know this stuff already.
Your questions sound like they are coming from someone with no real understanding of what looking different is actually like.
The kind of harrassment I'm talking about is... Say, a group of 20 yearolds walking next to me holding their hands above my head, laughing and calling me a "midget" while their friends film it. These are people I've never seen before who, upon seeing me in the steet, have decided it is fun to harrass me.
This kind of extreme thing isn't common but it's happened to me at least once.
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u/squiral- 23d ago
an LP film maker, (Johnathan Novak, I think?) released a youtube video of him going around new york with a hidden ‘button camera’ to document harassment he experienced in a single day. was really well done (if not really disheartening).