To not recognise Kemi Badenoch's views on ASD?

[Locutus2000]

The likely next leader of His Majesty's opposition

The Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch has been criticised for a campaign pamphlet that said autistic people received “better treatment” and “economic privileges and protections”.

A pamphlet published by Badenoch’s campaign team at the Conservative party conference argued that conditions such as anxiety, as well as an autism diagnosis, had gone from something “people should work on themselves as individuals” to “something that society, schools, and employers have to adapt around”

I'd love to know what improved treatment and economic privileges I should be getting - maybe I forgot to apply.

What do Kemi supporters find attractive?

Autism is a disability, and any interventions or accommodations made for Autistic people are put in place for them to feel more comfortable or give them more opportunities to achieve things. Not every autistic or disabled person can access them even if they need them, and I think you’ll find that if you remove them, their mental health and productivity will plummet anyway.

Can something be done about what she’s said? Does it come under instigating hate towards autistic people?

She is stupid and cruel. Which she reminds us of regularly.

But if the Tory membership decide to elect her, who am I to argue? I'll laugh myself silly at their coniuing death spiral and be grateful they're no longer in power.😁

She was quite the darling on here not too long ago, when she was saying things that appealed to certain people on here, funny how the worm has turned. She is a vile woman, she always has been.

😂mumsnet is such a tolerant place. It’s not ‘hate’ to say something some people disagree with or find unpalatable.

I imagine she’s mostly talking about the trend of people ‘self-identifying’ as neurodiverse or self-diagnosing anxiety using TikTok.

Can anyone link to the actual pamphlet? Some of the stuff she’s saying seems reasonable: “If we are to resolve the problem of deteriorating mental health, we must be able to point out that it is happening and how society has changed its approach to it and determine whether that approach is working,” they said.”

“The essay said it was positive there was more openness around mental health, but the requirement for schools and workplaces to make adjustments for it had “created costs and failed to improve people’s mental health outcomes”.

I imagine she’s mostly talking about the trend of people ‘self-identifying’ as neurodiverse or self-diagnosing anxiety using TikTok.

She isn't though. Because she specifically talks about all these amazing benefits you get "if you have a neurodiversity diagnosis" (and to continue her ignorance, she lists anxiety alongside autism as an example of this).

This link should work

Response by The National Autistic Society
https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/news/the-national-autistic-society-has-responded-to-kem

Brilliant response from them. Badenoch, devoid of ideas and knowledge, is continuing her ridiculous Culture wars using autistic people.

Autistic children aren't the problem. They are not responsible for the dire state of the country. That's all down to the Tories who have received lots of economic advantages for not doing well at the job while complaining that none of it is their fault.

Is being Tory a condition?🤔

Not when the Tories get back in.

There was a good programme on TV recently called I Am Not OK and looked at the lack of respite care to parents of children with ASD and severe LD who frequently attacked their parents/trashed their homes. 3/4 of parents of children going through the SEND system have to cut hours/give up work due to a lack of support in place. I'd love her to watch that programme and actually FUCKING LOOK AT THE STATISTICS and then list the so called privileges. Perhaps she's not a numbers person......

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.

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.

They only appear after wars.

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.

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.

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

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.

This sums it up beautifully.

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

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.

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?

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.

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