Katie Piper has discussed the challenges of raising children in a digital world and parenting with a disability on the No Parental Guidance podcast.
Speaking to hosts Louise Boyce and Hannah East, Katie reflected on how her views on children using phones and social media have shifted as her daughter reached secondary school.
She admitted she had originally planned to avoid giving her children access to phones but reconsidered when social pressures became clear.
“So I was that person that was like, my kids will not be having phones, will not be having social media. Then we got to year seven. I was like, okay, how is she going to have any friends and talk to anybody?”
Katie explained her compromise of allowing limited access through an older device without a SIM card, though she questioned the effectiveness of that approach.
“But really, who am I kidding? Because what’s the difference between an iMessage group chat and a WhatsApp group chat?”
The conversation also covered her experience of becoming pregnant after believing she may be infertile due to medical treatment following her injuries.
She described being on strong medication with infertility listed as a side effect and losing her menstrual cycle after trauma, leading her to assume she could not have children.
Katie recalled telling her partner early in their relationship that she thought she was infertile, before later discovering she was pregnant after returning from volunteer work abroad.
“I need to go to the GP because I think I’ve got dysentery from Tanzania. And they were like. No, you’re like really far gone pregnant.”
She also spoke about balancing her past experiences with how she raises her daughters, saying she tries not to project her own trauma onto them despite her story being widely known and easily found online.
Discussing parenting with a disability, Katie highlighted the practical challenges she faces due to vision loss, particularly in busy environments. However, she pointed to technology as a positive support, including apps that improve independence in everyday situations.
“There’s so many apps and things that can help you with your independence,” she said, adding that tools like NaviLens allow her to navigate spaces and access information more easily without relying on others.
Katie described this growing use of assistive technology as empowering, both for herself and for future generations.
