Katie Price causes uproar in autism community by saying “some parents are too lazy”.

Ms. Price, a media personality, businesswoman and model spoke about parents of disabled children in an interview with Sam Walker which was broadcast on Radio 5 Live on Monday 28th October. Katie Price is mother to Harvey, 11, who has septo-optic dysplasia, Prader-Willi Syndrome and is on the autistic spectrum.

The BBC news site reported on Nov 1st about this interview which can be read here. During the interview when asked if she thought there was enough help available for families with disabled children Katie Price replied,

“There actually is a lot of help out there but some people are too ignorant and they don’t want to look for the help.”

She then continued to say that her son Harvey does have a statement of educational needs and that his medication is provided by the NHS. She went on to say.

“But you do have to fill out the forms and you do have to take the time out to do it. If you look for it you can find it.”

When pressed on what she meant by people being ignorant, Ms Price said it could be that some parents are “too lazy”.

“They probably think ‘oh there isn’t help’ but you have to go and find it. It’s not going to come to you… People might think that because their child is disabled that no one will want to help. Well, that’s the wrong attitude because there is help if you go out and get it.”

Miss Price’s views on the subject of parents accessing and being able to access support and help has caused much debate and the sharing of opinions over on twitter and Facebook with many parents of disabled children defending themselves by saying that they are neither ‘ignorant’ or ‘lazy’.

Anna Kennedy, OBE, who is a leading autism campaigner and advocate, asked her 45,000 followers on twitter what they thought about Ms Price’s comments and there was an outpouring of views and opinions. Mrs Kennedy told Autism Daily Newscast the following,

“Why did Katie Price not focus on knowing what support you need being half the battle, postcode lottery of where you live whether you get support or not, and those who shout the loudest or know their way around the system are able to usually get the support that their child requires if it exists.”

Mrs Kennedy then continues,

“It’s almost like our Government system says OK this parent has a child with a disability how can we make their life more difficult? What barriers can we put in their way? It’s almost like a test of resilience on how far we are prepared to go for our kids! I did question Prime Minister David Cameron about the difficulties parents’ face who have children with a diagnosis of autism and other special needs. He agreed with me and was hoping the new single Care Plan was the way forward. I said I did not see how it was going to work since Education, Health and Social Services are supposed to work together now and there is very little evidence that this is the case.”

Following on from the many responses made on twitter in reply to Anna Kennedy, Ms Price tweeted the following,

“with your help and others we should get together and plan to all help each other and raise awareness…”
“not all parents are ignorant and lazy I said some are because they feel there is no help so do nothing”

The interview and Ms Price’s opinions have started a frank discussion about how parents access support and help for their disabled child. Ms Price further tweeted,

“everyone knows I support families and do a lot of charity work, remember I’m a parent too trying my best”