Children in Need? Or… Children we are failing

 

Every year, in November, the UK is all about Children in Need. However, do we really know the true extent of what happens behind the scenes of the UK’s largest fundraising campaign? In this blog, I hope to iron out some of the things that disabled people believe based on their views of Children In Need. 

From the offset, I do not believe that Children In Need is bad or evil. It brings families together and allows for everyone to sit and watch something together. Donating to a charity is your choice, you have the autonomy and freedom to choose what you do with your money. However let me explain my opinion. 

In previous blogs, I spoke about the media making disabled people out to victims that are inspirational or need pity. I believe this is exactly what Children in Need contributed to, the idea that disabled children need pity or are inspirational. Now, while our hearts melt at some of the stories, they are often shared by celebrities who have probably never donated to children in need, or never payed taxes. I understand that Children in Need, supports thousands of charities up and down the country, but is this really what they should be doing? 

My belief is that it’s the responsibility of the Government both devolved and reserved to ensure they are doing all they can for disabled people. However, let’s face it, this isn’t happening and won’t happen unless we as disabled people make a stand. We are in the 21st century, yet we still need third sector organisations to fill the gaps that Governments can’t fill themselves. Scotland is making steps in the right direction with Pam Duncan-Glancy (MSP) proposing her Transitions Bill and the Adult Disability Payment, however, the ADP doesn’t go far enough. £345 per month is standard rate ADP for both mobility and daily living. For enhanced rate you get £628 a month. Now, put this int the realities of many families lives that are shown on Children in Need. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions there!

Disabled children, should not have to look cute and share their stories on camera to encourage the public to donate. There is also the horrific feeling of bringing up past medical trauma from the families, when they don’t want or need to come on TV to prove how desperate they are for those in power to care and better invest in disabled people - our health and social care, education and welfare system does not go far enough to help those “Children In Need”. Live TV does not need to prove this. It is evident already.

Aside from all of this, how do you know that your donations do actually go to Children in Need? Truth is you don’t. Children in need take 5p off of every pound, meaning that only £1,763,658.35 will actually reach the pockets of organisations in need this year. At this point, you should be questioning where the rest of it is going? In 2014 according to the Daily Mail, the charity had a £90 billion stash of money sitting unused and not allocated. 

Children in Need, glorifies trauma and exaggerates it in order that we put our hands in our pockets. Some also say they exploit children and families, when they are at their weakest point. This comes into play with both disabled children and those experiencing the grief and loss of a family member. The organisation tokenises grief, meaning that for some, trauma is relieved or new trauma formed. This is all done whilst the families are grieving their loved ones. 

Finally, I want to finish off by saying, this blog isn’t to persuade you not to donate, because if you are in a position where you are able to donate, that is amazing. However, why are we putting in money in big yellow buckets when the very same party we vote for are the ones putting our children in need in the first place. So, the next time an election comes, I would encourage you to engage with candidates and ask them how they will better the lives of young people. Write to your members of parliaments and call on them to strengthen or improve bc bv support for disabled young people. However, most importantly, speak to us, learn from us and raise awareness of what it actually means to have a disability. This will really help our children in need and show our government what needs to be done! We as young people are not there to be cute just so charities can benefit. No child should be tokenised to share their story when they are dealing with something that will and has changed their life forever.