I feel I can assert without too much need for supplementary evidence that burgeoning internet addictions have been an ever-growing phenomenon in the last 18 months, as the world has rolled in and out of lockdowns and we found ourselves consigned ever more to our screens for distraction. One thing I’ve noticed is the explosion of certain YouTube channels, to the extent that they have almost functionally replaced the demand for the kind of Reality TV that has so afflicted the country in recent times.
A few years back, Harvey Price was a central figure on such Reality TV. As his mother, Katie Price, pushed out series after series of television detailing the strife and rigmarole of C-List celebrity life, young Harvey became a staple appearance. But it was only a few years later, after enduring endless jibes, perhaps most infamously from edgelord- now-turned-twitter-moraliser Frankie Boyle that his time in the public eye really became pronounced.
There was the Loose Women interview. And then, as is the case with many, many parents of young people with pronounced Autism and Learning Disabilities, Katie spoke of the struggle of trying to look after Harvey herself and the internal debate as to whether he should be in care. Harvey, was, and still is, the target of much ridicule online, the butt of many jokes, and a target entirely without recourse or right of reply.
And yet something curious has occurred recently, which encouragingly, appears to have pushed Harvey’s status from a mocked pincushion into something of a minor national treasure. Katie Price’s YouTube channel, though modelled in the same way as so many other influencers, has regularly featured herself and Harvey over the last year, capitalising rather cleverly on a burgeoning audience. They bake cakes, go to the dentist, hang out as a family, with some videos clocking over half a million views.
The comments reveal a sincere outpouring of support and positivity around the disabled young man. Viewers talk of how much they enjoy seeing Harvey complete every-day activities, and there is almost something of a forum culture in the way that other (non-famous) parents of disabled children share their own experiences.
“As a mum of severely autistic twins….Both mute and totally dependent on me… I see the love Kate gives Harv. He is such a wonderful happy man… as Katie is an amazing mother” – Zoe, England Supporter (YT Account Name)
While negativity is to the online world as water is to a goldfish, Katie’s channel has succeeded in highlighting and reinforcing a positive image of young people with profoundly limiting conditions, and has brought that image to the limelight during a particularly difficult time for everyone.
An Eye Through The Door 