Key Principles: the Labour Party Autism and Neurodiversity Manifesto & the Reality of Our Situation

The Five Key Principles of the Labour Party Autism and Neurodiversity Manifesto are as follows:

The social model of disability: Disability is caused by society creating barriers to the equal participation of impaired (or neurologically different) people.

The neurodiversity approach: Humanity is neurologically diverse; people have different brain wiring. ADHD, dyslexia, autism, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and other conditions are neurological differences. We want human neurodiversity to be accepted not suppressed or cured. (See our website for neurodiverse profile prevalence figures.)

Opposition to austerity: We need adequate public services, benefits and wages. We oppose government and local authority cuts to these – they are a political choice, not an economic necessity.

Socialism, democracy and solidarity: As a prospective Labour Party manifesto, this document bases itself on labour movement principles. We want to challenge the deep social roots of discrimination against neurodivergent people.

Nothing about us without us: Policies and services, and the Manifesto itself, must be shaped by neurodivergent people themselves.

The reality of our current situation:

We have the right to live independently, with a lifestyle of our choice. But many environments and essential spheres of life are hostile to dyspraxic, dyslexic, autistic and other neurodivergent people:

• Diagnosis/identification and support

There is a desperate lack of diagnostic / identification services: in some areas, there is no diagnostic service for eg. dyspraxia in adults; waiting lists for autism assessments can be up to three years; there is a widespread lack of public health support for ADHD, particularly diagnostic services for adults, most of whom would not have been identified as children. Girls are more likely to be misdiagnosed than boys and are often not recognised as neurodivergent until later in life.

While waiting for diagnosis/identification, many people are misdiagnosed or are medicated for conditions such as depression or anxiety which may arise from the discrimination and lack of support they experience arising from their neurological status. There is a higher prevalence of mental health issues among neurodivergent people. For example, around a quarter of those with ADHD experience depression or anxiety; 40%-60% of dyslexic children also present with anxiety, depression or attentional issues.

Often, we only receive support once we develop mental health problems. If we receive adequate support, this may prevent or reduce mental health problems.

• Independent living, services and welfare

The Tory government has cut welfare benefits and subjected claimants to punitive ‘work capability tests’. Neurodivergent people are among those who have been driven to suicide by benefit sanctions.

Our National Health Service is under attack from Tory cuts and privatisation. There are barriers to our access to healthcare, some of which have been reported by the Westminster Commission. Studies have shown that autistic people have a significantly lower life expectancy than non-autistic people.

There is a shortage of appropriate social care for neurodivergent people. For example, some autistic people are placed in institutions far from their families and support networks.

The housing crisis makes it difficult for us to find secure housing with access to the services we need.

Working-class people rely on these services much more than people who can afford to buy them.

Education

Our schools are under-funded and over-stretched. Few have specialist provision for neurodivergent students.

Dyslexic, autistic and other neurodivergent children who are academically capable are often overlooked and their needs not met.

School students do not want to be forcibly ‘normalised’ but neither do they want to be singled out as ‘different’.

Schools and society more widely put enormous pressures on children and young people (including neurodivergent youngsters), leading to more and more widespread mental health difficulties, without adequate resources to help and support young people through difficult times.

Teachers and teaching assistants do not get enough training about neurodiversity. So support can be arbitrary rather than appropriate.

Parents also receive no training in neurodiversity.

Parents and children are too often blamed for challenging behaviour, rather than the root causes being addressed.

Teaching and assessment methods are geared towards neurotypical learning styles. Recent government policies eg. more assessment by exams, has made this situation even worse.

At the end of compulsory education, neurodivergent young people do not get enough support with transition to adulthood – they talk of falling off a ‘cliff’ as support services come to an end.

Neurodivergent teachers and other education staff experience discrimination and distress in hostile workplaces.

Disadvantage continues beyond compulsory education into further and higher education.

• Work

Only 15% of autistic working-age adults are in full-time employment; a further 9% are in part-time employment. ADHD adults frequently have poor occupational outcomes, such as frequently changing jobs or long-term unemployment. This is not because only a fraction of neurodivergent people can work – it’s because workplaces are hostile environments for us.

Even if a mere 10% more autistic people were allowed access to the workforce, then the economy could be boosted by £593.25 million per year.

Barriers and discrimination in employment include: recruitment, interviews and assessments; the sensory environment at work; social pressures; lack of control over working conditions; and insecure employment.

The law, and the Tory government’s Autism Strategy, place no obligation on employers to make workplaces and working practices equal and accessible to neurodiverse workforces.

• Prejudice and discrimination

There is a level of bullying and hate crime against people with ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions that should shame our society.

This has increased with the demonisation of people who are disabled and/or different in pursuit of the Tories’ austerity agenda.

Profiteers and ‘quacks’ exploit the fears of neurodivergent people and our families by marketing false and dangerous ‘treatments’ and ‘cures’.

The built environment is often distressing and inaccessible, with an intense and increasing assault on our senses.

• The justice system

While some neurodivergent people and their families have received useful support from the police, there have been several reported cases of police brutality against autistic people.

Dyslexic and other neurodivergent people can find the justice system very difficult to navigate, and are often wrongly, harshly or unfairly judged.

Too many people are in custody who would be better off receiving support. Reports suggest that an exceptionally large number of prisoners meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD.

Equality law requires us to prove that we are disabled – in terms of things that we cannot do – in order to claim legal protection against discrimination and gain support eg. at work.

• Lack of understanding

There is too little research into neurodiversity and neurodivergent people’s needs; and what research there is can focus too heavily on the search for cures rather than on developing understanding and support.

When others (eg. professional bodies, charities, clinicians) speak for and/or make decisions for us, however well-meaning, then our views and needs can be misrepresented.

We have the right to live independently, with a lifestyle of our choice. But many environments and essential spheres of life are hostile to dyspraxic, dyslexic, autistic and other neurodivergent people: