To think there will be many more disabled adults in 20 years?

[Walkyrie]

I’m disabled myself, just to put that out there.

It just seems like the number of people with a disability, usually a psychiatric one, is going through the roof.

40% of disability benefit claimants are claiming for mental health related reasons. The number of anxious children and teens on here, and that I know in my own life and family, is really really high. So many schools refusers and kids in need of extra support, special school placements and so on. It seems there are a lot of unemployed young adults living at home who simply don’t have the mental acuity to get a job, live independently, have a life of their own.

3 children in my family are currently school refusing, one we only found out about today but it was not a surprise as she’s always been very anxious and has selective mutism.

My AIBU is, should we be doing something to prepare for what may be a very high number of adults not working in years to come? How will we sustain them all?

Youth unemployment is currently worse in the UK than in Spain, which has long had the worst in Europe.

Theres going to be a lack of jobs for a while, plus a lack of decent education options, because degrees are getting more expensive and we don’t need as many graduates as we’re creating.

Hopefully it’ll sort itself out again but I feel massively for the next few generations who have to decide whether to go to uni, or who graduate into this economy and market.

I don’t mean the job market which I agree is woeful and I also think the education system is woeful and needs a huge shake up.

I mean the number of young people and kids who look very unlikely to ever live a fully independent tax paying life, surely we are going to have to find a way to support them.

The numbers just seem massive.

I think if the nhs keeps getting worse and people keep having children at an older age then yes.

Early doors but people seem to be agreeing with me. Lots of things have become big issues because addressing them at a time they could still make a difference was considered taboo. Look at immigration.

The bigger problem is there is going to be more old people than children.

Yep.

Yes this is one aspect people forget- people are having babies much older on average which raises risks, also a much much higher number of babies are thankfully surviving prematurity, pregnancy complications and other complexities that wouldn’t have made it in previous generations.

The pensions issue will massively compound this. We can’t afford the triple lock as it is, or even a state pension at all in 20 years

I’m really worried about it.

Yes, I agree. But also those parents will have less ‘caring years’ in them on account of their age so will need state paid carers to take over sooner than they otherwise would.

Hmm. There may be more disabled adults but there will be less tax available for benefits so more disabled adults will have to work to survive. I don’t think more disabled adults = more people out of work.

There’s no way the kids in my family will be able to work (2 of them, I think the 3rd could).

It struck me when I had to quickly dash onto a train with my blind mum and help her get a seat as the assistance hadn’t worked out.

I asked the person in the accessible seat if my mum could have the seat and she said ‘sorry, I’m disabled, too’.

I thought it’ll be interesting with the etiquette around accessible seats/facilities as the years go by and more and more people are disabled. There are already not enough accessible loos in my town centre.

Wtf

I agree. A combination of babies surviving, adults with high functioning neurodiversity having children and life becoming more stressful means there are more people with disabilities.

Why is that ‘wtf’? It’s obvious that a woman who has a disabled child at 40 will probably not be able to care for them as long as if she had been 25.

If it gets too bad, then they’ll just re introduce mad houses and places to keep all of the people who aren’t “quite right”, it’s sad but will happen unfortunately, the key will be to be as “normal” as possible.

I saw a television show where they said pregnancies are being propped up now by medicine that would never have been sustained 30 years ago.

I feel like this is something we can get ahead of the curve on, we shouldn’t just leave it to stagnate and then panic like we have with immigration/pensions

Yep. Another one.

Do you not think this will come to pass? Do you think there will be fewer disabled adults? If so: why?

How is this goady?
It’s reality.

Well the issue about lack of carers can be solved/alleviated by immigration so I’m not sure why you’re lumping that in with concerns about pensions.
What is your solution then OP if you’re so concerned about it?

I think we'd be better to look at why it's happening, because quite honestly I don't believe that 'no one wants to work because benefits are so lucrative' sure, there's some who play the system (and everyone on MN seems to know the ins and outs of at least one person doing it apparently) or that it's because it's less taboo these days or 'fashionable' to be ND or have a mental illness/disability or physical illness/disability, something is wrong on a much bigger, societal and fundamental level than laziness and 'benefits culture' - I mean how have we come to a point where benefits are needed to top up ft wages? Where you're only marginally better off for working 40 hours plus a week than if you were on benefits? And I don't think that benefits are too high, you can survive on them, that's what they're designed for - so how does it work that employers can pay a tiny amount more for your time (which is usually offset by the costs associated with working) and own you?

I think it's the pressure that modern society puts on people, of all ages, that is causing so many to buckle under it, and it's all down to one thing - money.

It's almost like camhs isn't fit for purpose and there is nothing else to replace it

The pensioners are always a target for mumsnetters. Those who have spent a lifetime working.
We are paying 100s of 1000s of healthy people to sit on their arses every day because they are too lazy to get a job. How about getting them to earn their benefits by going out picking litter, tidying up the areas, cleaning up graffiti etc. Anyone refusing will have their benefits suspended.
Oh but we cant do that can we, its against their yuman rites innit