Published on 12, July, 2020
I promised to do this a while ago, and now I'm finally getting around to it. The petition will be on petition.parliament.uk. The character counts are extremely limited, so it was difficult to provide the needed information in the available space. Please let me know what you think of the text below, because this is for all of us and not just me. Note that the information I have provided (see the links) is also from a government website, so they can't really refute that.
The title of the petition is:
Make neurodiversity a separate protected characteristic.
The background I have written is:
Neurodivergent individuals, e.g. those with autism or Tourette's, often suffer discrimination due to their condition, whether or not their condition amounts to a disabilty. Making neurodiversity a protected characteristic in itself, separate from disability, would be a step in the right direction.
Here are the additional details I have written:
Neurodivergent individuals are denied both fair treatment and mental health services at a higher rate than in the general population. As a result, the unemployment and suicide rates in the neurodivergent group are disproportionately higher as well. Presently, they are obliged to prove that their condition amounts to a disability in order to be legally protected from the discrimination and mistreatment to which they so often fall victim. Further info: tinyurl.com/y829k3oh & tinyurl.com/yavfxmod.
PS I need 5 emails addresses for supporters of the petition, so if anyone is a UK citizen and willing to "officially" support the petition, please PM me. I can likely get some from people I know, but maybe not all five that I need (I don't know many people).
Thanks.
(Edited based on comments received)
Incidentally I think it’s fairly clear based on case law that neurodiverse conditions are disabilities for the purposes of the act. The issue with the equality act is more one of awareness and enforcement. Lots of people and organisations subject to the act don’t understand it well, especially in the context of neurodiverse conditions. And whether or not they understand it the process of holding them to account when they brake the law is arduous.
if you want to do something productive I suggest you either:
The world is increasingly filled with nonsensical madness that I simply cannot fathom!....and yet we drive around, and fly drones on Mars.
After 5 people sign it only then does a human being look at the petition and decide whether or not to manually approve it.
Interesting (and ridiculous!). Thanks for the info.
Sorry for perceiving your post as "bot-like.". I have no problem with any human, but have a pathological hatred of bots and spam.
May I suggest that you start your own new thread with this subject matter - probably on the adult forum.
Again, please accept my sincere apology for your gruff and unfriendly "first encounter" on these pages. Every human opinion or human-generated topic is welcome in this place, most especially considering the backstory and context that you have now kindly indicated.
Welcome - and I hope you receive plenty of feedback on this matter.
Kind regards, Number.
Having done a number of these petitions myself I can confirm the first 5 people to sign don’t get to read it on the website. They expect you to get your friends to sign it … this discriminating against those of us who have no friends.
My story :
I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at 15 and never really realised my triggers until I was pushed to an extreme to get an institution to make accommodations for me. It completely distorted my sense of self because I never thought of myself as disabled ... The environment I was in ( mostly social environment where extreme bullying was occurring ) was the problem. So I believe that by understanding Neurodiversity as protected characteristic we are deeply looking at ones relationship to their environment. I have some autistic traits but never thought of myself as autistic or neurodivergent just neurodiverse like the rest of the human beings on this planet who given certain maladaptive environments and social behaviours can develop depression and anxiety and PTSD.
So I hope to start a conversation and happy to hear feedback and different views on the topic.
Heya you are absolutely right ! Apologies they still haven't approved to publish it as it needs to get 5 emails minimum but I am a real person my name is Luisa
This post looks suspiciously like a bot? You give no details of what "your" petition is nor what it is for.....and if one does follow your link, the only information I can readily see is that it says "sign Luisa Pires's petition."
If you want help from "us" lot, we require explanations. You are in the home of independent and cautionary thinking people here. My money is on the bot hypothesis - this is your first and only post - ever.
Sentinel Number.
PS...To any real humans that find this, it's lovely to stumble upon wise and pithy wisdom from Plastic below....God rest his glorious soul....while hunting bots in the long grass!
How far did this get? I am trying to do the same but from an intersectional perspective.
Here is my petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/633587/sponsors/new?token=oarwvjbWIElOFB2V7Fp1
Thanks Cassandro, it was very interesting to read the linked info. I was pleasantly surprised to see how comprehensive and pro-neurodiversity the manifesto is, and the recognition of the coercion implicit in behavioural therapies.
I understand that since the Labour Party conference last month, their autism manifesto has been adopted and includes:
o ‘Neurological status/condition/divergence’ to be an additional protected characteristic under the Equality Act, with the same legal protections as disability. o Strengthen the Public Sector Equality Duty and extend it to the private sector. o Develop the Autism Act to include eg. obligations on employers.
https://neurodiversitymanifesto.com/
The petition would be helpful to get it implemented anyway.
When everyone is protected, no-one is.
I think we are in danger of having so many "protected" characteristics, groups, etc that it's in danger of losing all meaning.
I'm looking forward to Dragoncat16's petition being published. It is just what is needed.
There are no safeguards to help those on the ASD spectrum from being bullied in the work place as there are no repercussions for the perpetrators whose activities are repackaged as 'having a laugh'. Perception, misunderstanding and 'banter' are commonly cited excuses by the bully for their bullying behaviour. Making neurodiversity a protected characteristic and outlining how bullying someone with ASD traits could present as (in speech or behaviour or consequence) would give the victim a firm basis to launch an employment tribunal or could deter the workplace bullies from their activities in the first instance.
There was nothing on the petitions page about autism and bullying but I did find this: 'Make bullying a criminal offence' which has 16,106 signatures so far.
petition.parliament.uk/.../217865
If we add signatures to this maybe it will give blanket protection to all those who are bullied for whatever reason.
Text from the petition:
Bullying can drive people to have mental health problems, to self-harm and even to suicide because we are all human.
More detailsIf someone is reported for bullying, they should have a police warning. If they continue should be arrested and imprisoned for 24hrs. If they still continue then they should do community service. We need to crack down on bullying on all levels.
...In the context of this Forum, to "PM" means to send a "Private Message". Go to your Profile page and select "friends"...
...Also, you can click upon any User, and then try to "Friend" them, by sending them a PM. This can be done as many times as you like, but does not necessarily mean that the recipient will (or can) respond (!)...
'Hope this helps' (I cannot really do it myself, my devices are too old.)...
Hi DragonCat
did you get anywhere with this? (I don't know what PM means)
I support this. We need to move away from seeing Neurodiversity as a Disabilty and instead as a difference (like our gender, religion or sexual orientation). Did you manage to post the petition?
How's this project going?
There were a few interesting links another thread on autism and employment that made me think of this.
The TUC guide on Autism in the workplace by Janine Booth is very good, and of particular interest may be sections 5 (examples of discrimination and bullying at work), 9 (hate crime, disturbing) and 12 (law as it is). It's really taking the view that autism should be seen as a disability just for the protections afforded, although mentions autistic strengths. The article by an occupational health worker on the other hand has a couple of examples of disciplinary procedures that you could think of as differences of interpretation rather than disability: it seems the autistic person may have been right, but was more junior. Getting unions involved in the petition might help, too....
Among the autistic advocates I know 'autistic' is the preferred term, being 'identity first'. I don't have a big problem with other terms personally, but identity-first certainly seems to be the way things are going.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1362361315588200