Bristol-based children’s incontinence charity marks its 30th anniversary

The UK’s only charity dedicated to bowel and bladder health in children and teenagers in the UK – based in Bristol – today (May 1) marks its 30th anniversary. ERIC has been providing valuable support and advice to parents and children struggling with incontinence, a condition that continues to be heavily stigmatised, for more than three decades and has commemorated its big birthday by making the help it provides even more accessible. In the UK an estimated 900,000, or 1 in 12, 5-19 year olds suffer from bowel and bladder conditions – including bedwetting, daytime wetting, constipation and soiling. Read more.

Source: BristolLive, May 1, 2019

Incontinence: ‘Lack of Support’ for Older Children

For Gruff, double incontinence has made some days at secondary school an anxious and humiliating experience. Campaigners claim there is a lack of support in Wales, estimating that 1 in 10 UK children suffer bedwetting, daytime accidents and constipation. The Welsh Government said it expected health boards to provide specialist-led continence services for under-19s. Read more.

Source: BBC News, April 25, 2019

Urinary Incontinence May Affect Learning and Academic Performance of Teenagers

Continence problems are among the most common pediatric health problems. It’s commonly believed that continence problems resolve with age in all children. However, severe incontinence in childhood can persist into adolescence. New research has found teenagers with incontinence are at greater risk of underachieving academically, and need more support to remove barriers so they can reach their academic potential. The prevalence of urinary incontinence in teens is around three to four percent and around one percent suffer from bowel incontinence. The research by academics at the University of Bristol, and published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, explored the impact of the secondary school environment on young people with incontinence and is the only detailed qualitative study carried out in this area in the UK. Read more.

Source: News-Medical.net, December 12, 2017

A Life-long Bi-product

My Story – Submitted by: James

I have cerebral palsy and started life at a special school in Chicago where the physical therapy staff routinely diapered the kids who had accidents. This was nearly 60 years ago. Some of the students wore diapers regularly. As a deterrent, I suppose, they made fun of the kids who had the occasional accident. The method of humiliating punishment was general. Boys were made to feel sissies, changed into girls’ underwear; girls and boys ridiculed as babies (“How many babies need changing?”), and shaming was applied as a general deterrent. Maybe it worked in a number of cases. But I have come to believe it was precisely the wrong way to address the problem. At the time there was only one other special elementary school in the city’s public school system.

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