Online Suffering and Disability in South Africa: Three Ethical Dilemmas and Associated Risks

People with disabilities represent a significant portion of the population in any given country. Across contexts, media representations of disability tend to reproduce existing tropes and follow established narratives. One of the most enduring is that of the helpless victim in a tragic story, but that of a resentful villain or inspiring hero is also intimately linked to suffering. In this article, I discuss language use, algorithmic bias, and AI-generated content concerning online representations of suffering by people with disabilities in South Africa. This is a country characterized by profound social inequalities, a sophisticated media and regulatory framework, and one of the highest Internet penetrations on the African Continent. Rather than providing practical recommendations, the envisaged contribution of the present paper is to advocate for critical awareness and emphasize the need for further problematization.