Activists are not OK with this OKCupid question

Simone Olivero
image

(Change.org)

“Would the world be a better place if people with low IQs were not allowed to reproduce?” asks the standard survey for someone signing up for OKCupid.

“The question is inappropriate, offensive and discriminatory,” says Ciara Lawrence, a Campaigns Support Officer at Mencap, which is a U.K.-based charity that works with people with learning disabilities. She found the question so disturbing that she started a petition on Change.org to have it removed.

ALSO SEE: Katie Meade is the first model with Down syndrome to front a beauty campaign

In the petition, Lawrence explains that she has a learning disability and has been contemplating having kids with her husband. When she learned that this was a standard question asked of users of the popular online dating site, she was “horrified.”

“If the same question was asked about people of different races or sexuality there would be outrage. It should be the same for people with a learning disability.”

She then goes on to describe her experience growing up with a learning disability.

ALSO SEE: Quadriplegic comedian makes beauty tutorials to prove anything is possible

“Since I was diagnosed with a learning disability when I was ten I’ve been told: ‘you will never,’ 'you can’t,’ 'you won’t.’ All negative attitudes. It was hard for me to imagine then that I would ever achieve anything I dreamed of in my life. However, now I am married, have a great job working at Mencap, and live an independent and happy life.”

She fears that the inclusion of this question perpetuates the stigma against people with learning disabilities and that the dating site should not only remove the question, but apologize for any offense they may have caused.

So far the petition has reached 2,226 of it’s 2,500 signature goal.

“I’ve met some fantastic parents who have a learning disability. With the right support parents with a learning disability can be as good as any other parent out there.”

What do you think of Lawrence’s petition? Do you think OKCupid should remove this question? Let us know your thoughts by tweeting to @YahooStyleCA.