Fareham dad launches podcast for parents with disabled children in partnership with national charity

Dan White from Fareham has launched Pod-Ability with charity Variety to discuss the challenges faced by families with disabled children.

The mental health and disability rights campaigner has a disabled child himself, his 13-year-old daughter Emily who has spina bifida, hydrocephalus, chiari malformation, scoliosis, and autism.

Dan said: ‘I have been working with Variety for a while and we wanted to find a way to reach out to parents and families who, speaking from experience, are very busy but are also quite lonely.

‘It can sometimes feel like you are alone but we thought a podcast with guests who know exactly what you are going through could be very helpful. People don’t have time to read and digest information but a podcast is easy to pop on when you are caring, cooking or cleaning.’

The first four podcasts cover education options, mental health impacts, accessibility and parenting children with visible and invisible disabilities.

Guests include actor, TV presenter and disability rights campaigner Adam Pearson, former Government Children’s Mental Health Tsar and author Natasha Devon, MBE, actress, public speaker and accessible shopping campaigner Samantha Renke and Yvonne Newbold, author of the book The Special Parents Handbook and parent of a disabled child.

Adam said: ‘Discussing disability, particularly at the moment, is to be able to cut through all the ill-informed rhetoric currently being used.

‘The idea that being disabled is a 'free car, worry-free, benefit-laden' lifestyle is far from true. Hopefully, thanks to these original, informative and groundbreaking podcasts, we can open dialogue and create some empathy here. I’m proud to be part of it.’

Natasha added: ‘We don't have as many words as other languages do to describe how we feel in our state of mental well-being. So if you can express yourself in something that kind of circumnavigates the challenges of language, if you can do something physical to get the feeling out there, even if you just punch a pillow, sometimes that's enough to get your anger and frustration out.’

A Facebook group will be set up for parents to chat and contribute ideas for the podcast.

Jo Carter, CEO of Variety said: ‘Variety has been proudly supporting disabled children and their families for over 70 years. We really hope this podcast will prove to be an invaluable tool, offering tangible help to those families who need it most.’

Dan added: ‘I hope that it provides a sense of community to people and they feel supported at a time when we get little support from anywhere else.’

To listen to the podcasts visit variety.org.uk/pod-ability