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NASHVILLE — A couple is suing a media outlet, an online sign generator and a Flickr user after the three used a photo of the couple's son with Down syndrome in an "offensive" Internet meme referring to the boy as "retarded."
Pamela and Bernard Holland are suing Cox Media for the use of a photo of Adam, the couple's son who has Down syndrome. The picture is from 2004, and shows Adam in an art class holding up a picture he drew that reads "Go Titans One." A radio station owned by Cox used the picture on their website, replacing Adam's words with "Retarded News."
The radio program, "The Cowhead Show," hosts a segment called "Retarded News" in which they talk about strange news, not disabled individuals, the program director wrote to ABC News.
The Hollands are also suing Sign Generator, an online company that allows anyone to create their own signs on different images. They used the image of Adam calling it the "Retarded Handicap Generator."
A third defendant in the suit is a Flickr user from Minnesota who posted the picture on the image-sharing site, saying the boy in the photo was a "sick retarded kid that lives down my street that my dogs hate."
The images have sparked outrage online, where people are calling them "defamatory," "hate speech" and "mortifying,"
The Hollands are suing the defendants for unauthorized use of the image, as well as damages as a result of "severe mental anguish and emotional distress with manifestations that impact their daily lives and routines, humiliation, embarrassment, fear, and other non-economic damages and also their economic damages."
