TikTok, which has ironically chosen “you belong here” as its pride slogan this year, hosted its first ever Pride Ball in L.A.—where a disabled influencer was forced to leave after unexpected strobe lights led to her passing out and hitting her head.
Influencer Fay (they/she), who goes by @faythegay on the app, uses their platform to talk about life as a disabled lesbian and service dog user. Because of their multiple disabilities, which include autism and vasovagal syncope, a fainting disorder, attending the TikTok Pride Ball required a lot of preparation on their part to make sure they would have a safe and comfortable experience at the event. However, what they couldn’t prepare for, because they were given no warning, were the strobe lights that came on during the event, and the fog machine turned on shortly after them.
Strobe lights are a common trigger for numerous conditions, including epilepsy and other seizure disorders, and as such, any event, ride, or experience including strobe lights needs to be clearly labeled as such for the safety of all attendees. In Fay’s case, the strobe lights were disorienting, something the fog machine, which came on as they tried to leave, only exacerbated. Already starting to black out, their cane was then knocked out of their hand in the low visibility crush. This was the final straw in triggering a vasovagal episode, and Fay fainted, hitting their head on the floor as they went down.
The perfomers and venue staff were very kind and helpful, checking on Fay and bringing them food and water while they recovered, but Fay says the event staff were another story altogether. After being hustled backstage out of sight as soon as they were able to move at all, Fay reports that they were then ordered to leave the event on the grounds that they were “a security risk and legal liability.” Fay says they explained what had happened and why, as well as ways that they could remain at the event safely, but the staff doubled down and forced them to leave—something they found particularly hurtful in light of this year’s choice of slogan, “you’re welcome here” (unless of course you have a disability, then you’ll have to go).
Fay went on to list ways that this incident could have been avoided, and that similar incidents like it could be prevented in the future. Simple steps like asking attendees about necessary accommodations beforehand, giving clear warnings before sensory disrupting effects like strobe lights begin, and providing quiet areas for disabled attendees to rest and regulate would help keep all disabled attendees safe in future, and require little to no cost to implement.
Saying that they are “no more dangerous to have at an event than hundreds of influencers with an open bar,” Fay correctly pointed out that anyone can get hurt or injured at an event like this, not just the disabled, and excluding disabled people from events is punitive, discriminatory, and personally hurtful for those affected. They finished by saying that Pride is for everyone and hoping TikTok would do better in future.
Pride is for everyone, and the use of strobe lighting without proper warning is irresponsible at best. If TikTok is recklessly endangering attendees like this at events it’s hosting, then the company needs to address this, and an apology accompanied by an action plan on how it’s going to do better in the future is the bare minimum.
(featured image: screengrab, our edits)
