{"id":36106,"date":"2023-09-21T17:09:12","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T16:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=36106"},"modified":"2023-11-29T11:19:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T11:19:17","slug":"why-i-became-voice-for-those-who-couldnt-speak-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/why-i-became-voice-for-those-who-couldnt-speak-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I became voice for those who couldn\u2019t speak up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anna <\/strong>has been an incredible campaigner for Sense over the last year. Despite the difficulties that came with sharing her family\u2019s story, she continued to push for better support for disabled households struggling under the high cost of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January this year, I used a foodbank for the first time. The cost of energy had just been going up and up and up; it left me asking \u201cAm I going to be able to heat the house and feed my kids?\u201d I can\u2019t remember ever experiencing uncertainty like that before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My son, Charlie, has a genetic condition called SPG11. He needs a lot of assistance, like an electric wheelchair and hoist, and keeping him warm is vital as he can\u2019t monitor his own body temperature. In the winter, the money I put on my prepayment meter is gone straight away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My journey with Sense started last winter when I applied for their emergency grant<\/a>. That support was such a massive help. I gave them feedback to say what a difference it had made and to share my family\u2019s experience of the rising costs of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anna came down with us to London for our roundtable event and to attend the petition hand-in. The petition box Anna and Steven delivered on the day contained over 80,000 signatures. Find out more about our Downing Street hand-in<\/a> and Cost of Living Campaign.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A voice for those who couldn\u2019t speak up<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sense reached out to me. They wanted to see if I\u2019d be up for speaking to some journalists about the impact of energy prices for households with additional needs. I wrote a blog called \u2018How this Christmas will be different for my family<\/u><\/a>\u2019 and did interviews for various platforms and national TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a mixed experience for me. When you take this role, it does open you up to people being negative online, which I hadn\u2019t been expecting. From my perspective, we were all in this together trying to get better help for our families, but not everyone understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to keep going. I knew I was the voice for so many people who didn\u2019t have one. I always think, if it was Charlie on his own and he didn\u2019t have us, what would he do.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“Anna invested such passion and expertise into our Cost of Living campaign and it’s been inspiring to see her become a fierce advocate for disabled families. She’s been a truly essential part of this work.”<\/p>\nMark, from the Sense Media and Campaigns team<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sharing my story in parliament<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sense organised a roundtable at parliament.<\/a> Richard Kramer was there, Sense CEO, with people from a few other organisations who, like me, were sharing their stories and experiences. We met with some key MPs from the Work and Pensions Select committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I emailed my local MP inviting them to the roundtable but they didn\u2019t respond. I wish more MPs would engage with our stories, to understand where we\u2019re failing to protect the most vulnerable people in our society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Westminster, I took a picture of Charlie with me so I could say \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about figures and numbers here; we\u2019re talking about real people. This is my son, but he could just as well be your son, and you\u2019d want better for him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Anna
Anna and her son, Charlie.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Seeing the best and worst side of people<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not the only person saying that I\u2019m grateful for the help being given, but it\u2019s not enough. Unfortunately, I felt that some of my media was interpreted as \u2018Mum on benefits can\u2019t afford Christmas\u2019 and I was on the receiving end of online hate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was hard. I was seeing the worst side of people. But then, I also got to see the best in others. Sense was wonderful, and I had a lot of people from disabled households reaching out to say they\u2019d also been struggling with the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was able to help them, directing them to the Citizens Advice, to local support groups and to foodbanks. When Charlie was diagnosed, I was just finishing off my social work degree. Obviously, I couldn\u2019t go into a fulltime job once I started caring for Charlie, but this opportunity to support other people meant I felt connected to that ambition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been an absolute privilege to support Sense in this way. Even looking back to last Christmas, despite the difficulties of that time, what\u2019s come out of it has been amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I can help one person not feel as alone as I did in my darkest moments, then it\u2019s all been worthwhile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The challenges ahead<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m very nervous about the next winter. We\u2019re lucky that I\u2019ve been able to start building up credit for our heating, and that Charlie\u2019s equipment isn\u2019t lifesaving so we can scale back. But for many families, the struggle is going to be huge \u2013 and they can\u2019t scale back those essential costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to keeping breaking down taboos and telling stories that people need to hear. A friend of mine wasn\u2019t able to afford the cost running of vital equipment for her son during his last few weeks. They had to spend those days  with him in a hospice instead of at home. We need more support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Demand more support for disabled people in the cost of living crisis<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anna has been an incredible campaigner for Sense over the last year. Through thick and thin, she pushed for better support for disabled households struggling under the high cost of living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":17159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"display_author":[378],"class_list":["post-36106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","display_author-anna-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36106"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=36106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}