Every bio I have, across every platform, mentions my disability because it’s part of how I got here. I’m a professionally trained and certified designer who was seriously injured and unable to draw, paint, or even hold a stylus for nearly twenty years. Two decades of ideas trapped in my head with no way out. Then AI tools finally matured enough to become the bridge my hands could no longer be. With voice control, eye gaze, and generative assistance, I’m creating again — full collections, portraits, album art, fashion concepts — things I thought I’d lost forever.
So when I see a nine-year-old YouTube account with zero uploads, zero playlists, not even a single liked video — showing up just to call my work “AI slop” and hit the downvote button, I don’t get angry. I mostly feel curious.
Why does a completely blank profile care so much about what a disabled artist is doing? And why pretend this is about “soul” or “authenticity” when we’ve all been using digital tools since the first computer replaced the Foley artist, the laugh track, the darkroom tech, or the typesetter?
Tools evolve. That’s what they do. The pencil was once new technology; so was the camera, the synthesizer, Photoshop, and now generative AI. I’m just grateful this particular evolution came in time for me to pick up my career again.
To every disabled creator out there using whatever works — adaptive keyboards, eye-tracking, voice-to-text, AI assistance — keep going. Your art is real because you’re real. Your joy is real. Your comeback is real.
And to the empty accounts dropping hate: I see you, I’m not mad at you, and I’m still going to keep the comment section peaceful and focused on the work. Life’s too short, and I already lost twenty years — I’m not losing one more minute to negativity.
Back to making things. —Tiffany Webb (@themusetech) Still disabled. Still designing. Finally smiling about it again.
Technical note: Dealing with this on your own profiles? Here’s the exact moderation setup I use on YouTube to stop the emotional vomiting before it ever appears:
- Go to YouTube Studio → Settings → Community → Defaults
- Under “Blocked words” paste this entire list (one line or comma-separated, both work):
ai slop, this is slop, slop, fuck ai, f ai, f*ck ai, ai trash, ai garbage, soulless ai, ai is soulless, ai sucks, ai is theft, ai steals, ai kills art, ai is not art, death to ai, kill all ai, ai bad, generative slop, llm slop, midjourney trash, dall-e trash, stable diffusion trash, grok sucks, chatgpt sucks, claude sucks, ai art is not art, slop, ai trash, ai garbage, fuck ai, soulless ai, ai slop
- Set the dropdown to “Block these words (don’t hold for review)”
- Turn on “Strict” comment moderation in the same menu.
That single change stops 99 % of the drive-by hate instantly and silently. The people who actually want to talk can still comment — the ones who only want to scream can’t. Peace restored.
Keep creating, friends. The tools are here, and always have been, on our side.
Remember, a lot of these are bot accounts. Don’t harbor feelings. Someone can call you a tree, it doesn’t make you one. 🤣
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