Damien Moore MP, in his role as a member of the Petitions Committee, took evidence from Katie Price on online abuse and the experience of disabled people.
Price’s 15-year-old son, Harvey, is partially blind, autistic, and has Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). PWS is a genetic disorder occurs in 1 in every 15,000 births and is recognized as the most common genetic cause of life-threatening childhood obesity.
Harvey receives a mass of horrific online abuse each day. Price’s petition, which has gathered more than 220,000 signatures, seeks to introduce a new law with an aim to change the way police deal with online abuse.
On 9 February, Price was invited to give evidence to the House of Commons Petitions Committee, of which Damien is a member.
Damien Moore MP asked:
‘What would you say to people who say that your family suffers abuse because you put pictures and videos of Harvey online? What would you say to them?’
Katie Price responded:
‘I think that’s a really good point. I’m actually glad, now, that I have put myself in the public eye.’
‘I’m extremely happy that I show Harvey because there’s so many people out there; I get letters… all the time from people who have got children or family members with disabilities – they don’t know how to cope with it, some people don’t want to go out in public because they don’t know how to cope, [or] they don’t know about people staring.’
‘And me? I’m proud of Harvey. If I wasn’t in the public eye, I would not be sitting here now because I would not have got 220,000 signatures…’
‘So, I’m actually glad… it might have taken me 25 years to achieve something [on this issue, but] I’m sitting here making a new law.’
The House of Commons Petitions Committee was established in July 2015 to open up parliament and allow members of the public to electronically petition the House of Commons.
If a petition receives 10,000 signatures, it will receive a response from the government.
If a petition receives 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.
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