Christine: My fight to highlight toll of hidden disabilities
TV star reveals ordeals of raising 3 autistic children
Christine McGuinness has urged more kindness for parents who have children with autism, after an ugly incident over a disabled parking bay.
The Loose Women star, married to comedian Paddy, was confronted by a man angrily accusing her of being there illegally, when she was with her three autistic kids.
She says that son Leo’s behaviour is unpredictable to the point that his anxiety can lead to meltdowns.
The 33-year-old model needs a blue badge and explained: “It was quite intimidating.
“The man said I wasn’t disabled, my children aren’t disabled, so why are you parked in a disabled space?
“I take any opportunity to educate people on autism. But there’s a time and a place and it’s not when I’m in a car park on my own with three children. We all need to remember to be kinder to each other.
“If there’s a blue badge in the window, just believe they’re entitled to be parked there.”
On ITV’s Tonight programme, Hidden Disabilities: What’s the Truth, Christine says other parents she knows “gave up” applying for blue badges because the application for people with a disability is difficult and must be done every three years.
Christine – mum to seven-year-old twins Penelope and Leo, and Felicity, four – added: “It’s quite disheartening to know I have to go through this same battle in three years’ time.”
The programme features other people with “hidden” disabilities who are asked about their ability to work or use disabled facilities.
MP Debbie Abrahams says: “People with hidden disabilities have the added difficulty of proving they need support. There is not always the expertise needed, for example from the health assessors, to understand clinical conditions.”
The show is hosted by journalist Saima Mohsin, who suffered a nerve injury when her foot was run over by a jeep on assignment in Jerusalem.
She told the Mirror: “I could barely walk, sit or stand. I went from covering 28 countries to hardly being able to move without pain.
“I’d keel over and people would push, shove and tut at me on the street. People with a physical disability have a tough time fighting for their rights. Having an invisible disability adds another layer of obstacles.
“I made this programme so we would give people a little more understanding and kindness.”
Loose Women star Christine and Top Gear host Paddy, 47, are filming a documentary about autism for the BBC, to air later this year.
Christine previously told how lockdown was an “uphill struggle” as they had to act as “therapists” for the kids.
She added: “It will be uplifting. We didn’t know much about autism. We had to educate ourselves, and now we want to pass that on.”
Hidden Disabilities: What’s The Truth? is on ITV at 7.30pm tomorrow.
I take any chance to educate people on autism. We all need to be kinder to each other
CHRISTINE MCGUINNESS ON NEW ITV DOCUMENTARY ON HIDDEN DISABILITIES