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.

Exactly this, although there shouldnt be 30 kids in a classroom in my view.

School dont seem to serve a lot of children, let alone those with additional needs.

I agree about over diagnosis but unfortunately that's the system - no label, no funding or support. So the whole system does need overhauling because labels feel limiting and as if there is no hope of change. Also there is such a thing as social contagion and so i can see how if one kid wears ear defenders they all might want to. I love wearing ear defenders as an adult and had it been an option at school i might have worn them, but i did manage without. And we don't know the impact on hearing development for example - the more sound is muffled, the more acute the hearing might become to compensate, given that the human body is a self regulating system. A bit like if you put a heavy weight on a leg to stop it working so well but the leg actually becomes stronger as a result. So it's a complex issue and i think the rhetoric on both sides is overly simplistic and yes, in this case, inflammatory.

Special schools have mostly been closed.

Schools are noisier than they used to be.

The way classrooms are arranged has changed.

Many kids that would have benefited from them either had poor attendance, were already in a special school, or internalised their frustrations until they released it on family members at home.

A lot of those people would be receiving long term mental health care now because their needs were never understood and their mind eventually broke.

Can someone explain this idea of over diagnosis please? How do you get a diagnosis of autism or ADHD for a child who isn't? Is this the NHS or is it via private services?

Why does having a "label" of autism mean that my child is limited and has no hope of change? I mean, he isn't going to stop being autistic, even if the diagnosis is removed and he is instead labelled naughty and disruptive.

It's not a label. Its a diagnosis

Ive no doubt that under a reform government disability rights will be rolled back. He wont be the only one that thinks like him.

The other thing about special schools (and the rise in the number of disabled people generally) is that medical technology has greatly improved, as has prospects like education and employment for all disabled people.

The invention of surfactant for premature babies has meant that many more survive compared to when I was a baby in the mid 80s. My own child was born at 30 odd weeks and my consultant told me that when she started practicing obstetrics back then, babies of that gestation had a 10% chance if going home at all. My baby had over a 90% chance of going home with no long term issues at all.

With the survival of earlier and earlier babies, a lot of special schools have shifted from mainly having children with autism and Downs to a hypoxic brain injury being the main cause of their disability. This makes those special schools less appropriate for people with "social conditions", like autism as the population isn't always conducive to achieving their full potential. A mainstream environment is actually better for them in that respect, even if it still has problems.

Of course this has been made much worse by whole schools closing.

But the same goes for all areas of disability. We have more people in partially funded cars because we have more disabled people living longer and functional lives. We have more people claiming PIP for the same reason; more disabled people are surviving into adulthood and are able to live with a decent quality of life that allows them access to things like revolutionary healthcare and a comparable education to everyone else

Schools appear to be noisier and that means the potential for children to be distressed has increased. Add in the increased volume & auditory distractions in everyday life & children have to handle much more noise. Tills beeping, Muzak, ‘this vehicle is reversing’: little things we adapted to gradually are, collectively, overwhelming for some.

Yes, but a diagnosis is also a label. And unfortunately society then sees that person through that label and the person themselves also comes to see themselves through the label and it can become limiting. We are all complex people and we could all have multiple labels - some of them diagnoses, some of them physical or sex characteristics, some of them roles. I personally am strongly in favour of living life at a factual/descriptive level eg 'I find noise overwhelming' than at a conceptual/diagnostic/labelling level 'i have hyperacusis' wherever possible. It is less dehumanising and static and more connecting and relatable and is more likely to promote acceptance of natural human variation and differences. Just my opinion.

I don’t think anyone would look at a nonverbal 8 year old who can’t use a toilet independently and say ‘not disabled/autistic’.

But the autism symptom net is wider every day. And as they say ‘if you’ve met one person with autism you’ve met one person with autism’. I don’t really believe a very sociable professional 40 year old with a late in life diagnosis has the same condition as the aforementioned non verbal 8 year old, but it’s all called ‘autism’ nonetheless.

The human brain is so incredibly complex I think it’s all but impossible to actually take 2 people and say their conditions are exactly the same thing if their symptoms show little overlap.

Plus the rise of anxiety etc contributing to autistic presentation.

WTF!

DS’s class teacher gave him ear defenders to try to help his focus in the classroom, it really helps him. He has ADHD but his teacher was doing it before it was even raised as a possibility, it’s just a simple adjustment that works.

I wear headphones with ambient music in the office if it’s noisy and I need to concentrate. As do many people, neurodivergent and not.Total non-issue.

Tice clearly doesn’t hang out with normal teens and young children. Both mine are on the spectrum and wear noise excluding headphones (usually with one ear uncovered if at college/out and about)… but so do 95% of all their non-autistic friends. They are all almost entirely wired into devices, watching videos for college as well as reading reference texts and materials for their courses. The world is a noisy place. God, even I’ve purchased some noise excluding ear buds to drown out overly chatty/boozy commuters (and those high pitched squeals that some underground trains do on beds - shudder).

Why do you think that 40 year old would be diagnosed?

Spoiler alert:
it is because autistic people can be very sociable (who said they can't?). There is also little reason they couldn't become a very competent professional, especially if the job involves their special interests and skills.

There will just also be things that may not even be problematic, but are atypical, in terms of how they think and feel. Those things cannot be always observed by the outsider, especially as one learns that they are atypical and masks them. That masking can lead to exhaustion over time, as well as patterns of unsuccessful, stressful relationships and general isolation. Private occurances that lead a person to seek understanding through diagnosis.

When I was an NQT in the 90s I remember a child on my lap with his head pressed against me, crying in assembly. If only we’d known about ear defenders.

Also, in the 90s, the world wasn’t quite as loud as it is now. It’s not just individual noises, it’s the cumulative impact of the noise. The traffic noise is more constant because everywhere is busier, I can her DS’s electric toothbrush, the radio playing in a car outside… there’s a lot more noise.

Absolutely this. My dd1 is autistic she functions mainly fine in mainstream and tbh it is quite subtle you would not really know unless you knew her well. She has struggled in the school environment primary school was fine small school good support. She is in a great secondary but it is busy and loud. She now pops in the hearing loops if things are getting noisy or she is moving between classes on the corridors. They have been a game changer. She is not getting as stressed and overwhelmed as much and coping way better. She is not ending up in the toilets having an emotional meltdown or with the nurse trying calm down. She also loves live music and is finally able to go to gigs and enjoy them without having to leave early because she is too overwhelmed and stimulated.

Why do people take such an issue with accommodations that support a person to live a full life? Is it ignorance or are they just selfish vile intolerant gits?

Yes, I have no doubt that Reform are positioning SEN kids as the reason they cant cut tax. Much like single parents were pilloried in the 1980s. It always comes back to tax.
(Lets not mention that Brexit knocked 6-8% off GDP - the real problem is support for kids)

This is the issue with all politicians, they are making laws and policies about topics they are clueless about. They are too far removed from it and thats why we are in the mess we are in. They should all be made to live 6 months in a 1 bed flat in a dodgy area, on jobseekers allowance and volunteering for a disability charity.

It is well known that autism is a spectrum from severe to mild. A diagnosis is not for a label it is to support a person to understand themselves better and why they find certain things and situations more difficult then others and to identify the right supports and accommodations they and society need to make to ensure they can live a good life. The supports an non verbal 8 year child will get are very different to the 40 year old you describe. Assessments identify the supports required and tbh most functioning autistic people get littlie to none

Maybe just because we have better understanding and recognition now of how these kind of adjustments can improve outcomes?

Turn back the clock and I doubt anyone would have thought to offer my DS ear defenders, he'd have just been left to get distracted and underperform or to be constantly punished.

And I think he'd have just been seen as a quirky/weird kid, not recognised as neurodivergent. We definitely had kids like him when I was at school (I was one of them!) but their needs weren't recognised.

In terms of how things used to be between the 80s /90s and now - on Twitter a few years ago an autistic female poster said when she was at school her attendance was at a level which would have had teachers up in arms these days - but in her day, the headteacher understood that this pupil “suffered with her nerves” and needed “rest” from time to time. Her marks were always excellent so everyone just got on with it. As the parents of an autistic kid out of mainstream, I think about that a lot.

Just another thing to add, all these accommodations to support disabled children to be able to function in the mainstream and get an education are not all about the child. They are no use to the state if they are economically inactive they are a drain so it is a benefit to the state to have these children educated and out there working and paying taxes. Always comes down to money

DS's school had already recognised his (fairly minor) support needs/adjustments before we even got to the point of thinking about the possibility of a diagnosis.

But I think the only reason that this was recognised was because the staff had an understanding of neurodivergence and its different presentations, and what adjustments and strategies might work.

So yes I agree that it's not helpful for support to hinge on a diagnosis, but I think wider diagnosis has helped a lot in broadening understanding and creating an environment where adjustments are an everyday part of school life to give every child the best chance of success.

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.

I actually agree with this and i think this is where society gets it wrong with both the young and old, with or without diagnosis (and not just for neurodiversity).

Its a really sinister thing to pick on because its a visible sign of what can be a hidden disability. Its like signposting where to direct public ire.

Its also cheap and researched to be effective so it cant be about wasting public funds. It has to be about creating stigma
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