Richard Tice comments re autism and ear defenders

[Overthemhills]

I’m so tired of the anti-disability rhetoric everywhere on various sites and from various politicians. This one - Tice calling the sight of children wearing ear defenders in school “insane” is about the most stupid and cruel barrel-scraping comments a politician has come out with for a very long time.
My child is disabled but undiagnosed and does not use ear defenders so I have little on the way of skin in the game, or this particular game, but just how low do some people want to go to make the lives of people struggling with disability worse - on top of the cost of living and NHS issues.
I’m starting to think I will need to avoid every news item and social media platform until the next general election at this rate.

Is there a link?

I heard the interview, didn't realise it was Dicky Dickhead Tice.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/richard-tice-adhd-dodge-reform-b2867168.html

My child has an autism diagnosis and uses ear defenders in the classroom on occasion, more often in the assembly hall. I can guarantee you that his teachers don't want him not to have them and they don't think it's insane. They are trained professionals who understand that it's a reasonable adjustment and increases his ability to participate in learning rather than decreases it.

Richard Tice is a tool. If I ever had the misfortune to meet him, he would wish that he had ear defenders.

I can understand when people feel somethings are unfair - someone getting more break time perhaps

I could understand if people were refused permission to wear ear defenders without a diagnosis then they might feel miffed

or if it was insisting that everyone wears them

but something that doesn’t impact him at all … quite strange

Richard tice is a dickhead whos Been spouting shit for months he also doesn't think adhd is real and believes neurodiversty is overdiagnosed and that mental illness is the new back pain

He's just confirmed my worst fears about a prospective Reform government and how they will treat autistic people. As if I wasn't worried enough about my DC

Actually reading some of his other comments I heard a similar argument from a leader who is involved with disability and education today, about just giving children what they need to thrive in a classroom rather than doggedly pursuing ‘labels’.

More time, extra support, time out, fidget toys, and yes, ear defenders if that helps. Treat all 30 children in the classroom as individuals with unique learning needs. Even the ones who cope well may need certain conditions to fully flourish. Get rid of the EHCP angst for parents and raise the individual support for all learners.

Years ago, we gave a student ear defenders because he was terrified of the lesson bell and his anxiety would ruin much of the lesson. Ear defenders enabled him to cope with the bell. A TA would give them to him just before they were needed. That lad was able to complete his education, pass his driving test and live independently, not exclusively because of the ear defenders obviously, but because it was something simple that enabled him to cope.

Of course it’s a reasonable adjustment and what is insane is some inconsequential fool pontificating over something he knows nothing about. It’s a minimal intervention, but it can make a big difference.

The man is a revolting gobshite with disgusting opinions. I'm not surprised he's voiced another one.

This. Its being going on for months its not the first time hes said something disgusting like this.

@Screamingabdabz you don’t need a “label”, I think you mean a diagnosis, to have those things in the classroom. My child had adjustments years before he had a formal diagnosis of autism. Teachers don’t doggedly pursue a label, you don’t need one for an EHCP. Tice’s comments display a deep ignorance of the whole SEND set up and processes.

A good school will already treat all 30 children as individuals, and that’s got nothing to do with the EHCP process, adjustments for those with EHCPs or with weaning bloody ear defenders. Children without a learning disability or a diagnosis of Autism, ADHD or similar are not missing out or being hard done by because of children like my son.

This man is a total twat. He is a prejudiced wanker and yet the idiots in a town not too far from where I live voted for him. I’ve had the absolute misfortune to meet this bigot and he is as vile in real life as he appears in the media

In a good school maybe

in a poor school or a school with a lot of SEN and not enough support then other children do suffer as a result and it’s wrong to deny this

nit picking over the words make it seem like you want to seek out a fight

I suppose I do feel like fighting because this man is attacking my child in the most awful way.

In a poor school or one with a lot of children with SEN the situation will not be improved by anything Tice is saying.

Tice is a dickhead but the question remains why so many children need ear defenders now when I doubt a single child wore them in 1995. Something is going on - this isn’t me saying ‘they’re not needed’, just that that need wasn’t there before and it is now. So something has changed. It’s a sensible question to ask.

If anyone has anything to say about the use of disability aids, they need to spend a week at a special needs school and see how they cope. My daughter uses them in certain situations. She has DS and is very sensitive to loud, unexpected sounds. It looks like it physically hurts her from the distress she shows.

@Portlypig They were always needed just that autism wasn’t widely recognized as a distinct neurodevelopmental condition. Children covering their ears, having meltdowns, or avoiding situations, were often thought to be disruptive through bad behaviour and were punished instead.

Reform Party eh?

Oh well, ignore him then. He's a fuckwit.

This is something scientists need to look into instead of politicians. People are having kids later in life, our diets are shit, where less active, more screen time could be a million things or it could be where better educated and have more tools and resources of what helps.

There's only one person who's insane from where I'm standing - well, plus all those considering voting for shitty Reform.

I’m honestly not being goady, I just don’t remember that happening at all when I was a kid.

@Portlypig when I was at school in the 80s and 90s children were removed to a “remedial” unit and did not have lessons with the other children. They had a reduced timetable and did things like animal handling. Some children were expelled. So, I expect that sort of thing would have been where my DS would have ended up. Or possibly in somewhere worse than that if he was unable to cope and was dysregulated all the time. Autistic children often ended up in the mental “health” system in the past.

@Portlypig Most children with learning disabilities would have gone to a specialist school instead of mainstream.

We see a lot more integration these days so it looks as if there are far more people being diagnosed. I do wonder if many people would vote to bring back institutions, especially if they were told it would save money.