Disability debate over hearing-impaired food delivery rider

A viral video of a woman criticising a hearing-impaired food delivery rider for leading her astray sparked public disability discrimination controversy, accumulating as many as 2.7 million views in Thailand. This incident, which occurred in June, has stirred debates on the appropriateness of allowing individuals with disabilities to handle such job roles, as well as sparked, calls for compassion and understanding towards their plight.

The video was initially posted on TikTok by the customer who ordered food using an application. In the clip, the customer was travelling with the rider when she realized they were heading in the wrong direction. Despite her attempts to communicate the error, the rider did not respond, leading her to become frustrated. When they finally stopped, it became apparent that the rider had a disability and was hearing-impaired, hence, their earlier lack of response.

The customer then cancelled her food order, alleging her discomfort with communications and a sense of insecurity as the main reasons. The rider with the disability, who had shown the correct destination on his map, got his full payment before she left to continue her journey on another motorbike taxi.

Due to the detour, she had to pay significantly more, 150 Thai baht, which is higher than usual for her second ride reported KhaoSod. Towards the end of the clip, the woman stated that she didn’t think it was safe for similarly disabled people to be doing this work.

“I do not want to support allowing deaf and mute individuals to do these types of jobs because situations like this might occur, especially to solo female passengers like me. It’s terrifying.”

Her statement triggered a wave of backlash, with many online condemning her lack of empathy and understanding. Comments such as flooded her post.

“Have some empathy, individual disability is not a choice.”

“Try to put yourself in their shoes.”

“Why can’t we just support these individuals?”

Some argued that the app should have notified her about the rider’s disability, and she could have cancelled earlier if she was uncomfortable.

Responding to the disability discrimination reactions, the woman apologised for her offensive comments, admitting they were inappropriate and conceded that they were born out of her frustrations that day.

She clarified that her comments were not against the rights of disabled individuals to work but rather expressed her belief that such jobs pose great risks. She also criticised the app for not notifying her about the rider’s disability in advance.