whitterzz I’m writing this as a parent of two children with severe allergies. They both have multiple allergies and carry epi-pens. It has been well documented that the number of people living with allergies in the UK is on the rise. More and more children are being diagnosed with allergies and many like my own with multiple allergies, yet the support and care needed for this disease is nearly non-existent. I have had to fight and preserve for my children to get to see an allergy specialist. It took multiple trips a&e due to throwing up blood, rapid swelling and wheezing for my concerns to finally be taken seriously be doctors. My GP surgery has not got one doctor or nurse that properly understands allergies. They have given me incorrect information on multiple occasions, such as ‘your baby is breastfed so they can’t have allergies’ This is false! And so wrong for any medical professional to say. I was also told there isn’t anything in skips my son could be allergic to. Again this is incorrect information. While skips do not contain any of the top 14 most common allergens, a person can still be allergic to them. Turns out my son is allergic to corn, a key ingredient in skips! The top 14 allergens that by law must be displayed in bold on food labels, are not an exhaustive list of allergies just the most common. Any food can cause an allergic reaction. After my son suffered a serve reaction to garden peas, a paramedic commented to me that luckily its not peanuts, because that’s a really bad allergy. Peanuts are not the only serve allergy out there. People can suffer from anaphylaxis from a number of things. It just so happens my son is also allergic to peanuts which is actually related to his allergy to peas.
My daughter has five known allergies and my son fourteen allergies so far. With the misinformation going around the medical field it will be no surprise that we have suffered from the general public’s misconceptions around allergies. I have been labelled an overprotective and obsessive mother. My daughter started nursey in September. We had a meeting going over her what her care needs were and her allergies. One of which is dairy. However on the last day before Christmas she was giving a Christmas present to take home. She opens it and finds a chocolate selection box. Luckily it was taken home and she never ate any. Her teacher apologised for nit checking what was in the presents, so no harm done right? Wrong! She now had no Christmas gift and is upset I took it off her. This showed a lack of planning by the head as she purchased them and gave them to all the teachers already wrapped. She didn’t give my daughters teacher a heads up about what was in them and provide something suitable for her. So even if her classroom teacher had checked, she would have been left stuck with nothing for my child while handing out gifts to every other child in class. Since this incident my daughter had seen the consultant at the hospital and updated her care needs. I requested a meeting to go over her care plan again to make sure they understood not to give her dairy, and to update with the new medication and epi-pens. My daughter has now missed a week and a half of nursery because school have not managed to arrange this meeting. They have come up with all sorts of excuses as to why they can’t sort it yet. It feels like they are more concerned with covering their own backs than actually putting in effort to make sure my daughter is safe.
I recently applied for DLA for my son. Along with his allergies he also has asthma and severe eczema. He was awarded the lowest level. There reasoning, that the hours I take to prepare his food specially doesn’t count as additional needs. They deemed him as only needing an extra hour a day care, compared to a child without disabilities. When I say it takes hours to prepare some of his food, I mean It really does take me hours. Once you start looking, you’ll be surprised how many things contain corn and peas. It is in so many things you wouldn’t think of. Seasoning mixes, stock cubes, gravy granules and bread and just a few everyday items he can’t eat. And its not just food, its cosmetic, toiletries, perfumes, and wash powder. Not just what the children use but also the people they come into contact with. My son has hugged his grandmas for and come away with a red itchy face, because of her lotion. I have to hyper aware where ever we go. Children in play areas with food is a nightmare. They leave crumbs and residue everywhere. My son broke out in hives after going trampolining. He didn’t eat anything just touched some sticky mess another child left behind.
The wording and dismissiveness from the DLA is extremely ableist. They are telling me disability only looks one way. Which you would think by know in 2022 we would all now isn’t true. Disability isn’t just the person in a wheelchair. Allergy suffers have been forgotten and pushed aside by society for too long. They are not taken seriously and many act like it’s a joke. But it isn’t funny when your child’s face swells up, their throat closes, and they struggle to breath. A spoon of pea puree did this to my boy. Just one spoon. He was seven months old at the time. Children have died from coming into contact with their allergens. More needs to be done to support allergy suffers, in particularly children. Nobody asks to have an allergy. I’m sure many wish they didn’t. My daughter is only three, but she is already starting to realise that she is different to other children her age. Mental health issues seem to go hand in hand with allergies, and its no wonder when there safety and medical conditions are not taken seriously. When they are not made to feel included in activities because they are food based. When they are not able to enjoy a Christmas gift as there school didn’t take a little extra time to plan an appropriate gift.
This is discrimination. Plain and simple. Something has to change.