Petition to make neurodiversity a separate protected characteristic in the UK

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)

  • , I see your comment above includes a lot of copied text, some in big fonts, and comes at the end of an open discussion about something else. I particularly worry that it might confuse people as the petition to make neurodiversity a separate protected characteristic is not yet online, or discourage people from taking part in the subject of this thread. I appreciate having one thread for one subject so that we can communicate clearly. I also value the order that comes from people considering the rules of the forum (see rule 5).

    Would you be willing to delete your posting, please? (I'd then delete this one.)

  • In an ideal world equality legislation wouldn't be necessary, as every person mistreated or discriminated against would have allies.

    In an ideal world, equality legislation wouldn't be necessary because there would be no discrimination!

    Even if someone has allies, if there's no law to protect them, then they're still open to discrimination.

  • Hi there, I would just like to use this opportunity to say thank you to all have signed signatures for any of the petitions mentioned it is greatly appreciated. With that said, I would also like to use this time to urge you to 'spread the word' about the petitions as it can make a difference one aspect being a step in the right direction or the opposite which will lead to nothing resulted or acted upon.

    All petitions last for six months.

    Government responds to all petitions that get more than 10,000 signatures.

    At 100,000 signatures...

    At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament

    Here are a few more I stumbled across:

    For all prisons in the UK to become 'Autism friendly'

    There is very little training in prisons for officers/ staff to recognise and support Autistic adults entering the prison and serving their sentence. Only one prison in the UK called Feltham, has been Autism accredited and has made such a huge impact on supporting Autistic prisoners.

    The deadline for this petition is: 26th July 2018

    Signatures as it stands: 477

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/210038

    Training for all teachers and doctors to identify autism in males and females

    Autism presents differently in males and females that most girls get left undiagnosed and left flying under the radar, a failed generation and we need to change this. All doctors and teachers everywhere should have the training to recognise autism in both sexes.

    The deadline for this petition is: 9th October 2018

    Signatures as it stands: 110

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/216637

    All children should be tested for Autism before they are five years old

    All children should be tested for Autism before they are five years old, following the Norway model, to ensure early diagnosis of autism and resultant improved life chances and educational outcomes.

    The deadline for this petition is: 3rd October 2018

    Signatures as it stands: 46

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/216456

    Recognise autism assistance dogs as an Assistance Service Dog like guide dogs.

    Everywhere you go you see no dogs allowed except guide dogs. Obviously guide dogs help people see but for a child or adult who has additional needs or autism this helps them be more safe secure and make them more comfortable in surroundings they wouldn’t usually be comfortable in.

    The deadline for this petition is: 8th November 2018

    Signatures as it stands: 44

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/219019

    Make ADHD part of the blue badge scheme

    Autism and physical disabilities are included in the blue badge scheme but people don’t understand how hard it is to catch public transport and make your journey with an ADHD child!! When they have a set routine and you miss your bus ADHD is just a challenge as any other disability.

    The deadline for this petition is: 24th October 2018

    Signatures as it stands: 25

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/217963

    Prevent false cures for autism being sold to people in the UK

    I am concerned about the number of parents being tricked into giving their children bleach solutions, often marketed as MMS (Miracle Mineral solutions), as an autism cure. It can lead to severe injuries or death. I urge the government to prevent the sale of false cures.

    The deadline for this petition is: 19th August 2018

    Signatures as it stands: 22

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/211660

    Fund free BSL lessons for every parent or carer of a Deaf child in the UK

    90% of Deaf children are born to hearing families, most of which will have no experience of what they need to do to support that child. As a Teacher of the Deaf I repeatedly meet families that cannot afford BSL, which can leave the child isolated & frustrated. It costs £3000/person to gain level 3

    Government responded

    This response was given on 14 May 2018

    Government has funded the development of a family sign language programme, through the I-sign programme, which is freely available at the National Deaf Children’s Society family sign language website.

    Deadline for this petition is: 13th October 2018

    Signatures as it stands: 15,088

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/217239

    Adapt the education system: lower student exam anxiety whilst saving NHS funds.

    Statistics show growing numbers of students are developing poor mental health (MH.)The education system must be rethought to reduce the pressure placed on the young to lower students' anxiety, improving MH.
    This shows the rise in students' with poor MH:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41148704

    Deadline: 17th October 2018

    Signatures as it stands: 2,355

    Give disabled victims of crime funding for support & services to obtain justice!

    Disabled people such as those suffering with Autism find dealing with stress and anxiety very difficult, especially when they are victims of crime, it has a huge negative impact on their health, their life both at work and at home as well as their mental well being.

    Deadline: 3rd November 2018

    Signatures as it stands: 8

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/218579

    Note - this is not a spam apologies for any inconvenience caused.

    For more information or other petitions visit: https://petition.parliament.uk

    Thanks again for your time and have a nice weekend.

  • Hence if something protects people up to a border near what the majority of population class as neurotypical then people on the other side of the border could see the protection as discriminatory.

    The Equality Act as it is now protects neurodivergent people only up to the border of where they cease to be considered disabled. Those who aren't disabled must live without any protection from mistreatment.

    Adding neurodiversity as a protected characteristic would protect everyone from discrimination arising from where they are on the neurodiversity spectrum (i.e. on both sides of the border). That includes protection for neurotypicals (in the unlikely event that they would ever be mistreated for being neurotypical). Nobody would have any reason to complain about it as everyone would have the same protection, which is not how it is now.

    This would not give any group more rights than any other group. Everyone should have an equal chance for happiness and fulfillment, but that is not how the world works. Some groups are discriminated against by others, and that is why the Equality Act is needed in the first place. The protection only comes into play when someone is discriminated against or harassed, in which case the protection would be against that type of treatment.

    Therefore, there is no way that neurotypicals could claim that this is discriminatory against them, unless they were to complain that they would no longer have the freedom to harass their neurodivergent counterparts as they please, which would no doubt be a considerable blow for some of them.....

  • Thanks for taking the time to watch the video and for responding. It was something I haven't come across or heard before so it was nice to hear and see it in from a different perspective.

  • Very interesting video. I didn't realise that dyslexia was so common. Also the spiky skills profile is familiar. Of course, given that the "average" is based on neurotypical people, it's not surprising that the skills profile of neurodivergent people would be spiky. If they used neurodivergent people to find the average then the profiles of neurotypical people might be just as spiky.

  • I very specifically meant that things could be seen as discriminatory against neurotypicals. Most seem to have picked up on what I was discussing, which is that everyone is on both the NT and autism spectrum. Hence if something protects people up to a border near what the majority of population class as neurotypical then people on the other side of the border could see the protection as discriminatory.

    The present set up has a buffer between neurotypicals and those deemed to be on the Autism spectrum thus the larger NT population does not feel discriminated against in anyway. The losers are the cohort that are on the tail of the NT spectrum and the tail of the Autism spectrum. As there has to be a cutoff for all spectrum conditions then there will always s be some that feel that they ought to be classified as having a condition and are not. Equally though, it could be argued that they should be classified as being neurotypical, which is how the law actually works at the moment.

    The basic problem is that there will always be people that think they should be on the other side of the assessment line. 

    As for discrimination, that will always exist as people inherently do not tend to like people that are different from themselves. That works both ways, as often autistics, including myself, do not like neurotypicals.

  • Technically, I believe that any type of sexual orientation is protected, so straight people are just as protected from discrimination based on sexual orientation as those who do not identify as straight. In the same way, in the event that neurotypical people were discriminated against for being neurotypical, they would also technically be protected. Thus, nobody is given an advantage or a disadvantage with this proposed change.

    Yes I meant neurodivergent.

  • neurodiverse person

    I expect you meant 'neurodivergent' there, as in the rest of the paragraph.

    'Neurodiversity' is something like 'ethnicity' or 'sexual orientation'. All humans are neurodiverse, and have an ethnicity and a sexual orientation (including asexuality and so on). If there were discrimination against heterosexuals on the basis of sexual orientation, I'm pretty sure that would be illegal under the Equality Act too. But you can still point to specific abuse directed at people who are in minorities according to one or other characteristic: disabled, gay, autistic. So the Equality Act doesn't embody discrimination against straight people, and with this amendment would not discriminate against typically developing people.

    Another question for the FAQ maybe.

  • It is not clear what you mean by "discriminatory against NTs". A neurodivergent person, by definition, is one with a specific condition, the list of which is available in the first link I provided. Neurotypical people are never discriminated against for being neurotypical, so it's not clear to me when the Equality Act would apply to them. Neurodivergent people, on the other hand, are frequently treated less favourably than NTs, and that defines the minority group the topic of this petition is meant to protect. This is not to achieve any kind of favourable treatment for neurodivergent people. It is only to protect us from discriminatory acts and harassment to which we are often subjected.

  • The purpose of this is to recognise that all neurodiverse people, not just the ones who are disabled (or are easily recognised as such by others), have a greater chance of being subject to discrimination and other types of negative treatment, just because they are different. I agree with the social model of disability, and, in my mind, it needs to replace the current definition of disability in the Equality Act. However, is a person disabled because they are treated badly by others? If that were the case, then other minority groups who are often mistreated could possibly be considered "disabled" as well.

    All the disability-related forms of mistreatment aside (which would still be illegal - I'm not trying to change that), it is often the case that neurodiverse or neurodivergent  people are treated differently, not because they are disabled, but simply because they don't fit the neurotypicals' category of "one of us", at work, at school, and in other situations. This type of discrimination, much like discrimination based on race or gender, for example, has nothing to do with how much time a person takes off from work because of disability-related illness or the need for reasonable adjustments. It is because, even though they are often just as capable of doing their job, they are seen as different, and, unlike with the perception of disability, this difference is nearly as apparent to others as skin colour or gender, and, in my experience, it seems to invoke extremely negative reactions in others, beyond any kind of reason or logic.

    It is the case that neurodiverse people - whether they consider themselves disabled or not - are mistreated more often than any other group (probably because they are perceived as not being able to defend themselves, which is often true). Here, I am referring to types of discriminatory behaviours that fall outside of those that are specific to disabilty. I think there needs to be another category, separate from disability, to protect people who are discriminated against, not because they are disabled, but because they are different. I want to make sure people can't shrug this off by saying that neurodiverse people are protected under the umbrella of disability anyway because it is not always the case that everyone is protected, and some neurodiverse people simply don't self-identify as disabled, so they shouldn't be forced to do so in order to be protected by the law.

    We belong to a minority group whose members are often treated badly by others just for being a member of that group. Why should we have fewer rights than members of any other minority group? By fewer rights, I mean that we are not automatically protected as someone belonging to any other minority group would be. We first have to prove that we are disabled, and if someone doesn't manage to do so, that is, that person falls into the category of being obviously not like everyone else (and thus open to mistreatment), but not impaired enough to be considered "disabled", there is no legal protection available. No other minority group has that additional burden placed on them.

    I want to change that.

  • Exceptional Individuals: What is Dyslexia - What Is Neurodivergence?

    I found this as I was just browsing on YouTube. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

    It is a short video.

    Duration: 3 minutes 35 seconds

  • Hi there, I would just like to use this opportunity to say thank you to all have signed signatures for any of the petitions mentioned it is greatly appreciated. With that said, I would also like to use this time to encourage you to 'spread the word' about the petitions as it can make a difference one aspect being a step in the right direction or the opposite which will lead to nothing resulted or acted upon.

    All petitions last for six months.

    Government will respond

    Government responds to all petitions that get more than 10,000 signatures

    Waiting for 29 days for a government response.

    At 100,000 signatures...

    At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament

    Here is a reminder of the petitions.

    • Prevent avoidable deaths by making autism/learning disability training mandatory

    The deadline is 7th December 2018

    As it stands there are 29,449 signatures.

    petition.parliament.uk/.../221033

    • Make Autistic Spectrum Disorder widely known about within the DWP Assessments.

    The deadline for this petition is: 1st August 2018

    Signatures as it stands is 4,203

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/210975

    • Mandatory EHCPs for children with Autism.

    The deadline for this petition is: 2nd January 2019

    Signatures as it stands: 3,374

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/223069

    All these petitions are on 

    https://petition.parliament.uk/

    Thank you for your time and have a pleasant day.

    Note - this is not a spam by any means. Apologies in advance for any inconvenience caused. 

  • Yes, very much agreed. Very well said about fitting criterias and that all people are neurodiverse. 

  • The problem is, that you have to have a method by which someone fits a characteristic, as such there will always be people either side of the border. In addition, this could be seen as discriminatory against NTs. Overall therefore I can not see the intrinsic value in it or what it is trying to achieve, as technically all people are neurodiverse, in the same way everybody is on the NT spectrum and everyone is on the Autism spectrum, just to greater or lesser extents.

  • I do agree with this, although I can see problems with getting it accepted.  This is simply because autism is just put in the 'disability' section of the Equality Act, despite many of us not feeling disabled in the conventional sense.

    There are debates about 'disability' being too much engrained in peoples minds as the medical model of disability, whereas many autistic people come within the 'social' model, which would cover many more autistic people.

    There are certain disabilities which are automatically classed as such without further proof - cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV, which are recognised from day one of diagnosis.  Perhaps what we need really is for autism to be so recognised (under the social model of disability) which should prevent the problems.  Because I cannot see there being a separate heading for neurodiversity discrimination, however much we think it a good idea, and one which I would support.

    However, giving Autism 'automatic disabillty status' would prevent all the problems and arguments we have about getting adjustments made for us at work and in the wider world.  And giving greater understanding as to what the social model of disabiliity is.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_model_of_disability

  • I suppose I still have a couple of reservations, but don't let them put you off. I would rather think of them as the part of a FAQ section:

    • In an ideal world equality legislation wouldn't be necessary, as every person mistreated or discriminated against would have allies. Obviously we're not in an ideal world. Equality legislation does change behaviour (evidence).
    • How can we have a legal definition of neurodiversity? What does it include? Does it require a known undisputed neurological or biological basis (because few conditions have that)?
    • What practical effect will it have on employers?

    I think the enthusiasm's potentially there, so hope you can get an active group together.

  • Thank you for sharing this.

  • I acknowledge your point. I do believe in fairness, justice amongst other components. If we do have neurodiversity as a tenth protected characteristic under the Equality Act it would make a such a positive difference just to have that level of security and protection.

  • Thanks for the links to those other petitions. There is also another very worthwhile petition discussed in another thread:

    petition.parliament.uk/.../221033