To not recognise Kemi Badenoch's views on ASD?

I recognise what she says in the views of people I talk too (most of whom have disabled children).

I think as nd diagnosis grows and more people ask for their needs to be met the resentment towards them grows especially when people can't see the disability and there is a large movement of people advocating autism as an identity/ superpower etc/ non disability.

Councils can't afford the growing cost of sen most of which is now nd and as these children aren't having their needs met other children are having their education disrupted. Meanwhile people who don't understand see and hear 'autism is a superpower'.

People with other disabilities are having to share the accomodations with an ever increasing group eg merlin ride access, short breaks, special schools and they don't like it either. People with what was classical autism or severe autism not getting their needs addressed because they don't have the right kind of autism.

There just isn't enough money/ services and this group of people are an easy target especially when part of group deal out sayings like autism is a difference not a disability. It can't be both a severe disability with a huge cost and also superpower to be harnessed.

Just to be clear I do think every child should have their needs met and every adult, I'm just putting the other view out there as I can see where this is coming from and I think many people have views like this, they're are not my views. I am quite worried that the actually autistic, autism self diagnosis and nd movement will overshadow autism being viewed as a disability.

@OneInEight exactly. After years of unlawful reduced timetables and exclusion, I got DS into a specialist school which costs the LA many tens of thousands of pounds pa. He will be there for another 10 academic years, in all likelihood. If they’d thrown half of that funding at keeping him in mainstream with reasonable adjustments and adaptations, and enough staff, he’d likely still be there. It’s such a false economy and is unsustainable.

Also agree with PP that sadly Kemi’s views are reflected on here and amongst parents in real life.

@TooBigForMyBoots

Is being Tory a condition?🤔

I've often wondered this, because there is usually a good deal of overlap with certain Cluster B disorders.

Fair point @Whenwillitgetwarm - I wasn’t paying much attention (to any candidate) until now. It’s also fair to say I wouldn’t bother to join the party in its current parlous state, but I did want to vote for a woman (especially a WOC) to lead the party.

I think what she is proposing is removal of transport to SN schools.

I have no idea what equipment she is complaining that children have - wobble cushions?

The idea that autistic children are at an economic advantage is clearly nonsense. Nobody is 'advantaged' by having long commutes to specialist schools or adaptations to enable them to access the school curriculum.

Overall the impact of removing that support structure will be to reduce access to appropriate schooling and curriculum and reduce educational outcomes which will restrict future employment.

It does not make long term financial sense.

I think it is important to remember that she also complained about schools employing 'superfluous' staff so I guess she'd want to reduce support staff also, leaving a teacher to manage the full range of needs any one class might have without a TA.

She said what now?
I would disagree with her. Strongly. I'd laugh if I had the fucking energy.

She has no idea. The policy for years has been to make schools that adequately meet the needs of most children and then to pay expensive placements for those can not cope with this system. Maybe at one time it made economic sense (well possibly). The problem now is that it seems more and more children are not coping with schools as they are currently run hence budgets are decimated.

ds1 was one who got the "privilege" of a taxi to school - he also got the "privilege" of a 50 mile commute to school every day because this was the closest school that could meet his needs. Like Ms Badenoch I would have preferred him to walk to school like his former classmates but unless she is proposing to create more specialist schools or differently run mainstream schools this is not going to happen for kids like my ds.

These are the people who voted Truss in. They seem for some weird reason to think it's a good idea to vote in utter incompetents. I think it must be simply that sheer bigotry crowds out all common sense in their heads.

Also, as I said on the other thread

Anxiety = an emotion common to all humans
Anxiety disorder = a mental illness
Autism = a neurodevelopmental condition

Not conflatable, Kemi. Unless you are of the mindset that "oh, but they are all the same aren't they" about groups of people whose experience of life you refuse to empathise with, which as a black person you of all people should find reprehensible.

When she was bashing other vulnerable people it didn’t bother you? ‘I didn’t think the leopard would it MY face!’ Said the woman who supported the Leopards eating people’s faces party.

Unfortunately (and worryingly) you only need to read some threads on here to realise it's not just rich, old, white men who think autism and other conditions are basically made up or exaggerated so that people can get "free money" and despite hundreds of level, informed replies trying to educate them, they just keep going. I actually wouldn't be surprised if many many mn posters agreed wholeheartedly with this vile excuse for a human. A very sad state of affairs.

I am no fan of the NAS but their response was good.

I partly agree with people who are saying go on Tories, make these deeply unattractive bigots your leaders, it will bring you down further and keep you unelectable for longer. But the problem is that airing views like Badenoch's on autism and mental illness goes towards creating an atmosphere in which it is OK to be both totally ignorant and to demonise the vulnerable, while being perceived as respectable and worthy.

I am still a party member (and the mother of an ASC child in special school). She’s lost my vote with this.

Her supporters love her because they are pathetic losers who need to punch down to feel better. She says all the things they wish they could say, however, she has the cover of being black and female.

She’s a perfect front person for bigots. Same with Suella Braverman.

I think she is batty and I am a reform voters! Who lumps autism and anxiety together?? It's such a bizarre load of statements she's made recently.

I'm completely agog that anyone could think that autistic children get better treatment and equipment at school. I mean it's almost funny. Have they ever been to a state school in this country?

They are really not all as bad as each other. This new breed of Tories are popularist so will say and do anything to keep their frothy, daily mail/GB news fools happy. This usually involves low hanging fruit of people who already have it tougher in life. That includes the neuro diverse, disabled, refugees, etc.
Labour aren't perfect but they aren't actively targeting minorities and the vulnerable.

This sums it up beautifully.

amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/14/autistic-children-culture-wars-kemi-badenoch

Any company which said oh sorry Autism is a mental health condition and we don’t believed in reasonable adjustments for your protected disability would be held to account.

But what a shite leader she’d make- printing literature with big inaccuracies and a complete lack of awareness re laws in place. 😳

Agree, unless you’ve lived though it or are close to someone who has I don’t think you realise how shite the whole Sen system is with having to fight for everything, tribunals taking years, parents being expected to drop everything and give up work etc. Before being involved in this world I genuinely just thought thst if an autistic child needed help like a ta at school then they somehow just got that, not that their parent had to go to court to get an order for it to happen potentially taking years. Then when they do get an ehcp people just see it as taking resources from their own child. You see the ignorance from comments on the threads on here where people ask “have you thought about special school mainstream may not be suitable” like you can just request and get specialist if you want it.

Well it is when you are peddling misinformation about what autism actually is and are saying that protected disabilities shouldn’t get reasonable adjustments and you are trying to whip up a storm about them receiving adjustments.

It’s appalling.

They only appear after wars.

I read it as “Autistic anxiety people used to deal with their problems by themselves but now they want to be included in society and we all have to be bothered by it”.

What do they want people to do? Damned if you don’t work, damned if you try to work.

I agree that the pamphlet is both wrong (equating anxiety with autism, really And nasty (economic advantage? Really?)

A question that's been on my mind for a while, is where do people, not politicians, get such crazy views? I've come to the conclusion that it's from the main stream media. So if, for example, you get your news from the Mail, the pamphlet might well resonate with you.

Very few people, I've grown to understand, are informed by listening to political speeches and forming an opinion, but from what (and crucially how) it is reported in msm.

There are rules (often circumvented, but nonetheless existing and open to challenge) that enable us to know which politician is taking money/favours from whom. I think it's about time journalists were held to the same standards.

Baddenock is aiming at journalists in the right wing press. They can be relied on, like the useful idiots they are, to present that case to their readers/viewers.