Published on 12, July, 2020
Kemi Badenoch says autistic children do not get “better treatment or equipment at school”. Tell that to my autistic son who comes home and breaks down each night from the strain of going to school and is almost unable to leave the house at weekends from exhaustion.
She says autistic adults receive “economic advantages and protections” at work and in society. No we don't. I have had over 40 jobs in the last 15 years and almost every single one has led to a breakdown or burnout due to trying to survive in a workplace not designed for my needs.
Each time I try to heal and pick myself up and go again to the next job because I know there is no other alternative. because process to claim PIP or other disability benefits for me or my son is nearly impossible.
The worst thing about Kemi's thoughtlessness is it will feed into the stereotypes and misconceptions that so many people already have about autistic people in this country. There will be so many reactionary idiots reading that today and nodding their heads and saying "oh finally someone's saying it". Her words will make this country an even more inhospitable, understanding place for autistic people than it already is. We already know we're not welcome, we don't need a potential future Prime Minister saying it
I found this shocking, too. The full text from that part of the document reads as follows [I've added a couple of comments in square brackets and italics, like this]:
"This change in the nature of ‘harm’ helps explains why people who had suffered events once seen as non-traumatic now feel entitled to support. This increases demand for psychologists and therapists, required to help people previously seen as able to cope. As will be set out in the forthcoming book, across the psychological and psychotherapy professions, numbers have risen from 102,000 in 200240 to 223,700 in 2023.
Being diagnosed as neuro-diverse [me: should say neurodivergent - an individual can't be neurodiverse] was once seen as helpful as it meant you could understand your own brain, and so help you to deal with the world. It was an individual focused change. But now it also offers economic advantages and protections. If you have a neurodiversity [me: neurodivergent] diagnosis (e.g. anxiety [me: which is not one], autism), then that is usually seen as a disability, a category similar to race or biological sex in terms of discrimination law and general attitudes.
If you are a child, you may well get better treatment or equipment at school – even transport to and from home. If you are in the workforce, you are protected in employment terms from day 1, you can more easily claim for unfair dismissal, and under disability rules you can also require your employer makes ‘reasonable adjustments’ to your job (and you can reveal your disability once you have been employed rather than before).
In short, whereas once psychological and mental health was seen as something that people should work on themselves as individuals, mental health [me: autism is not a mental health condition - it's a neurodevelopmental condition] has become something that society, schools and employers have to adapt around".
From: NewsConservatism in Crisis: Rise of the Bureaucratic ClassRead the Renewal2030 pamphlet launched today by Kemi.John Doe11 Jan 2022•5 min read