It’s the night we’ve waited for with baited breath, tonight see’s Matt Hancock enter the I’m a celeb jungle.
Ever since the disgraced former MP was announced as part of this year’s line up, there has been outrage and scorn from all corners of the internet.
The disabled community in particular had a lot of anger, which was justified considering how Hancock treated us during his time at the department of Health and his refusal to act to save us during the pandemic.
However, a subgroup of the disabled community had a further reason to hate him. Hancock’s attempt to justify why he is abandoning his constituents during the harshest winter in decades is that he wants to raise awareness of dyslexia on a platform that will reach people.
If only his previous job had offered him such a massive public-facing platform with the potential to impact how the healthcare system treats neurodivergent people, eh?
As a neurodivergent person (which dyslexia falls under), I absolutely refuse to let the man responsible for so many disabled people’s deaths use his disability as a redemption arc.
Where was your concern for neurodivergent people when you forced us all to drastically change our routines despite your constant unclear messaging which left us to fear for our own lives whilst you willfully broke your own rules Matt?
I’m obviously not the only one angry, Peter Kyle, Shadow secretary for Northern Ireland, who is also dyslexic told the mirror “He is going on the show as a quest to rehabilitate his image. This is not a quest to educate the public on living with dyslexia.”
“It’s hurtful because it sets us back. I think Matt Hancock has set the cause of recognising the positive attributes that can come with dyslexia back a decade.” the MP said.
Marie Blackett, a neurodivergent activist from Suffolk said: "His dyslexia does not redeem him from the huge amounts of suffering and pain he has put the disabled community through that he is then using to turn around his image.
"And none of us will ever forget it. You don't get to do that and then turn around and use your neurodivergence as a reason why everyone should love you."
Granted he contributed to the government’s review of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to push for inclusion of dyslexia screening in all schools, he could have done so much more.
He could’ve actually used his role as health minister to pledge to bring down diagnosis time for neurodivergent disabilities, funding to help make it easier for dyslexic people in education and work.
In 2019 the government pledged that those seeking a diagnosis for learning disabilities would be referred within 13 weeks, however it was revealed that the average wait is 88 weeks, with some waiting as long as five years.
The average waiting time for ADHD first appointments is between 46 and 86 weeks, with the longest being nearly four years. Overall 69% of children wait more than 18 weeks for a first appointment with the neurodevelopmental and learning disability service.
If Hancock had cared about actually helping neurodiverse people he would have worked hard to change the wait times and impress the importance of early diagnosis.
Beyond a struggle in education and work, delayed diagnosis can effect a disabled persons mental health and all round confidence and who they are as a person, imagine thinking for years there was something wrong with how you fundamentally are a person only to discover in adulthood that it was never your fault.
These were all things Hancock could’ve done as health secretary if he actually was committed to helping disabled people.
However, his claims that doing so in the jungle will bring awareness aren’t enough. There’s something about the word awareness that rubs me up the wrong way as a disability activist, because people are already pretty aware of dyslexia
We don’t need awareness of neurodiversity, much like how disabled people don’t need sympathy. What we actually needed was a minister who was committed to changing the way the system viewed us and the funding to help us live better lives. Something Hancock had the power to do but didn’t.
It’s why I and many others have difficulty believing that he’s appearing on I’m a celeb to boost the awareness of Dyslexia. It seems all he’s eager in raising awareness of is himself.
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@mirror.co.uk or call us direct at 0207 29 33033
