Dad Hits Back at Trolls Who Mocked His Daughter with Down Syndrome After He Shared Dancing Video

Photo: Neil Markham/Twitter

A father in England has received several messages of support after he was forced to defend his teen daughter, who has Down Syndrome, from internet trolls who ridiculed her for dancing in a viral video.

Neil Markham was excited to take his 16-year-old daughter, Ella, to see the Tottenham Spurs take on West Ham United over the weekend. The proud dad shareda sweet video of the girl, clad in Spurs gear, dancing in the stadium.

Just hours after sharing the video, Markham tweeteda photo of Ella smiling, and wrote, “This is Ella. Im [sic] not asking you to say how beautiful she is or for you to like the post. All I really want after tonight is to treat her as a normal person who would smile at you and doesn’t deserve to have fun poked at her.”

About one in every 1,000 babies in the United Kingdom are born with Down Syndrome, and there are about 40,000 people in the country living with the condition, according to theU.K.’s Down’s Syndrome Association. The condition occurs when an individual is born with an extra copy of chromosome 21, and those with Down Syndrome usually have a learning disability.

“Some of the abuse directed at@NeilMarkham1and his daughter is sickening,” theTwitter user wrote. “Especially from Spurs ‘fans’. Check them out and report, thanks.”

Anotheradded: “This is amazing, Keep dancing beautiful girl

He even received support from former Spurs player Micky Hazard, who confronted a troll on the social media site.

“Hey mate do you realise what you are saying, this is a very special Lady having a good time, you owe this wonderful family an apology at the very least,” theathlete tweeted. “Try to behave with more class in future.”

Still, despite the praise, Markham expressed regret over joining the social media site.

“I posted a video of my daughter enjoying herself….since then she has been a figure of fun and ridicule to some…..not what I joined Twitter for,” he wrotein a tweet. “Maybe it’s not for me.”

source: people.com