This article originally appeared on theadditionalneedsblogfather.com on September 14, 2021 and is published here with the author’s permission.
The Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP), a campaigning body that I represent Urban Saints on, recently released the results of the latest in a series of surveys of families in the UK that have children and young people with additional needs. The results are stark, the impact of the last 18-months of the COVID-19 pandemic has been harrowing, and the ongoing effect of it continues seemingly with little end in sight. The findings below tell the story…
Excerpt of the summary findings of the DCP ‘Then there was silence’ report.
Excerpt of the summary findings of the DCP ‘Then there was silence’ report.
Families shared awful stories of services reduced or stopped, of them seeming to become invisible to the professionals and services that they had relied on pre-pandemic.
“My child is becoming invisible… There are more times now where we as a family are broken.”
“We stopped, and it was like someone pressing ‘delete’ and we’re gone.”
“Complete lack of human contact, when I’m caring for a child with complex needs who is severely life limited, to only have support via phone and Zoom meetings sometimes seemed inhuman.”
The plight of many families with disabled children hasn’t received the media attention that it so deserves and needs if change is to happen, but one newspaper did highlight some of the issues:
Extract from The Sun, Friday 10th September 2021.
It is little wonder then, in the face of these challenges, that families found themselves exhausted and struggling to cope.
Excerpt from DCP ‘Then there was silence’ report.
So what can be done? What can change this desperate situation and turn it around? The Disabled Children’s Partnership is campaigning to demand that the Government use the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review to invest in the services needed to restore the unmet needs of disabled children and their families. It must be a priority as the country seeks to find a way forward out of the current crisis to support those most at need.
DCP Campaign
We must do all we can to lobby those who can bring influence to this campaign, to make a difference for disabled children and young people, and their families. Let us keep on keeping on until this bleak picture becomes a better one for families across the country.
Read The DCP Report “Then There Was Silence - Briefing,” September 2021 and “Then There Was Silence: The Impact of the Pandemic on Disabled Children, Young People and Their Families,” - September 2021.
Mark Arnold is the Additional Needs Ministry Director for Urban Saints Church, Luton, Bedfordshire, UK. Follow his writing at https://theadditionalneedsblogfather.com.
