Unable to get a mortgage/join army/police if you have ADHD or ASD?

[Whatevah]

I have heard this from friends over the years. You can’t join the army/police if you have ADHD or ASD.
Recently someone close to me said they were told not to have their child officially diagnosed with ADHD as it might prevent them getting a mortgage?!
Now I’m worried as one of my kids is diagnosed with ASD. They are very ‘ normal’ , have friends, go to grammar school, have hobbies etc. Mad about their own special interests obviously !
Just wondering if anyone has ever been turned down for a mortgage or job due to a diagnosis of these?
Had a look at police recruiting website and it said if you pass all the requirements and training and can fulfill the job requirements it wouldn’t be an issue?
Anyone come across this?
Thanks.

My police officer colleague has diagnosed ADHD and a mortgage so it’s not been a barrier in her case

My mum has AS diagnosis, but definitely has a mortgage!

GCHQ are a neuro-diverse employer.

The police have active programmes to recruit neurodiverse individuals. They have some great stories of individuals with ASD being able to solve crimes that no one else could due to being able to spot patterns.

As for a mortgage, I have ASD and got a mortgage on my own. No one asked my medical history and I would report them for discrimination if they did. The only reason this may be a problem is if you couldn’t gain employment. If you didn’t work, not being able to get a mortgage would be a natural consequence. Employment rates for individuals with ASD are notoriously low but there are moves to change this.

Ds (18) diagnosed in November with ADHD - I asked the armed forces question of the psychiatrist and she said the only one that is still not quite 100% fine was armed forces but even that is constantly changing

Agree with leghairdontcare, I used to be a mortgage underwriter and it would not even be asked.

Dh has ADHD, we have a mortgage.

I work in the police and have a good friend who is a PC who has an AS diagnosis. And she had a mortgage. Would have thought it would be classed as discrimination to deny a mortgage based solely on a disability.

There are autistic police officers. There is a blog post for one...

I know of one autistic young man in the air force.

I was in the armed forces and worked with someone with ADHD and another person with autism.
It's if they can do the job and do they require medication that if they were deployed to the middle of no where would be problematic.

We were told that ADHD is an issue for army/police due to impulsive responses which could be unsafe.

Piffle. I've spent my entire life working in stressful, complicated situations and made excellent decisions. Better than neurotypical people who seem to freeze more (because of their heightened risk assessment).

I can't comment on the armed forces but this BBC news story from 2018 suggests that ASC is not necessarily a barrier to joining the police. I worked for many years in the same office as a mortgage broker and can confirm that neither ASC or ADHD are barriers to obtaining a mortgage.

Police are fine & full of (undiagnosed) adhd'ers! I think they have a form.

Thank you all for responding. Feel a bit easier that I haven’t blighted DCs life.

First I've heard of it. I can see the logic for anyone dependent on medication in the armed forces, but otherwise agree with mrsterrypratchett.

Plus I'm sure exceptions exist, but otherwise crisis/ chaos/stress are the situations where we really come into our own. In situations where everyone else is becoming increasingly panicked and stressed, we tend to become calmer.

And with impulsive behaviour, it isn't that adhd would make us randomly decide to eg play chicken with a sniper because we thought it looked fun and didn't consider the danger, but if we needed to cross the line of a sniper the impulsive behaviour/ risk taking would be an advantage.

Agreed Trainspotting. The paperwork would kill me but the high stress stuff is easy!

The Army class ASD as a 'psychiatric disorder'. That's the real disgrace.

Ds is 15 and was diagnosed with autism last year. He wasn't invited to his diagnosis appointment. The community paediatrician's first words to us were about some parents not wanting a diagnosis incase their children wanted to go into the army or become a pilot. Having talked to other parents whose children have been diagnosed there, they were told the same thing.

I'm guessing she was almost giving us a choice on whether to give him an 'official' diagnosis. He's quite obviously autistic and absolutely needed a diagnosis, he also has no wish to join the army or fly planes.

There’s lots of misinformation on this thread !

No having a diagnosis of ASD or ADHD is not a an automatic barrier to joining the forces or police. And in certain roles they can are a welcome asset !

Ex work colleague's partner in the police, and it was the police who recognised and sent him for his ASD assessment.

I don't know where this,'don't get a diagnosis' comes from, I've worked with students who won't get a diagnosis and therefore help with their studies because parents didn't want them to have a label because it would in some way stop teachers teaching.

It’s just asd and military services.

No having a diagnosis of ASD or ADHD is not a an automatic barrier to joining the forces or police. And in certain roles they can are a welcome asset !
Yes , however it is with asd and the forces.

@npaa_uk is the Police Autism link.

I have adhd and autism and only yesterday I was approved for a mortgage. I’ve also worked in probation. Which isn’t directly police but I think that’s a load of tosh

Arabella. There is an extremely long list of exclusions re joining the armed forces. Asd is one of them. But it's not about having an asd. You can even join if you've had a history of things like tooth abscesses because if you are in a desert for a period of time it's not treatable.

Apparently the army thing is tricky in that they don’t discriminate for actually having ADHD but if you need medication to control it (some people are medicated, some aren’t) that’s the problem because you can’t just nip down to Boots with your repeat prescription when you’re posted somewhere like say Iraq, not just because of lack of availability but some medications are banned from other countries. And that’s going to be a problem for many. Not to mention the tests and stuff they put you through to make sure you’re suitable for the army.

^this is what I was told when I went on a parenting course for parents of children with ADHD. The woman who was running it said she had a long conversation with someone from equal opportunities department in army recruitment who was tripping over himself to make it clear they don’t discriminate.

I don’t know about the police or mortgage though. I hope the latter isn’t true.