Celebrity couple, Paddy and Christine McGuinness, have launched their first podcast series, Table Talk with Paddy and Christine, in partnership with McCain and charity Family Fund, to raise better awareness of the highs and lows of daily life for families raising a disabled or seriously ill child.
Following the success of their recent documentary, which saw the couple lift the lid on their personal experiences as a family with three autistic children, Paddy and Christine will virtually meet six families across the UK with disabled children, to learn more about the realities of family life, the worries and wonders they face, how they spend time together and the support that changes their lives.
Table Talk with Paddy and Christine aims to provide a much-needed platform for the UK families that Family Fund helps every day, highlighting difficulties and celebrating heart- warming everyday moments. Families polled, with a disabled child, report feeling widely underrepresented in society, with more than three quarters of parents with disabled children saying they want to see more families like theirs shown in mainstream culture.
Set around a virtual dinner table, each week the six-part series will meet a new family and take on a different topic, ranging from the steep extra costs associated with raising a disabled child, mealtimes, family holidays and sibling dynamics to the impact of the pandemic, communication and the heightened importance of the senses.
The podcast series launches alongside new research into family life across the UK, in a poll of 2,000 families, commissioned by McCain and Family Fund, the UK’s biggest charity supporting families with disabled, and seriously ill, children.
Other key research findings:
Almost half (46 per cent) of parents without disabled children are not familiar with the challenges that wider families experience
Families raising disabled children spend, on average, an extra £66 per month on food for their household, and on average an extra £30 per month on household energy bills, compared to families without disabled children
Parents with disabled children agree that mealtimes together are important (63 per cent). Half of these parents would like to eat more meals together as a family and half believe it helps with family communication, but it can be a challenge and take almost twice as long to get everyone together to eat
More than a quarter of families with disabled children say they never feel able to entertain their friends for meals at their house and dining out can be challenging, compared to parents with non-disabled children, who dine out with their family twice as much
For families with siblings of disabled children, three in four families (74 per cent) say their non-disabled children get to spend less quality time with them and carers. Almost half of families (47 per cent) say their non-disabled children take on caring responsibilities for their siblings
Whilst 77 per cent of parents with disabled children believe it’s important to have holidays and breaks as a family, they are more than twice as likely to report feeling ‘overwhelmed’, ‘stressed’ and ’emotional’ about getting away and, during a typical year, go on half the number of UK holidays as families without disabled children
When it comes to day trips, families with a disabled child go on three a year, while the average family goes on five
A large percentage of families, 80 per cent, say that having a disabled or seriously ill child has taught them a lot as an individual and four in five do all they can to ensure their youngster has the same opportunities as other kids
McCain, who believe every family should be able to enjoy mealtimes together, has worked with Family Fund since 2021 and pledged to help the charity reach their goal of providing 150,000 grants and services to UK families raising disabled or seriously ill children, each year. It is hoped this podcast will bring family experiences into sharp focus.
Family Fund’s mission is to improve the lives of families on low incomes raising disabled or seriously ill children and young people. The national charity helps families in hardship and crisis, with vital support and information- including grants for essential items such as kitchen appliances, clothing, bedding, furniture, family breaks, computers and tablets, sensory toys and more.
The ongoing impact of the pandemic, rising financial pressures and additional ‘disability price tag’ costs mean hundreds of thousands of families are in need of urgent help. Over the past year the charity has helped over 124,000 families, but there are still an estimated half a million more UK families who could access its grants and services.
Table Talk with Paddy and Christine is out now and available to listen to on all major streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Listeners can support families raising a disabled child, in urgent need, by heading to mccainfamilyfund.co.uk to learn more and donate.
