10 year olds more likely to be on disability benefits than 50 year olds

[AgeingMillennial]

AIBU to think this is absolutely baffling? And at some point we really have to investigate why so many young children are non verbal, have severe emotional regulation problems etc?

Obviously. That's why I wrote "Not causing them, but worsening symptoms."

But the symptoms are what interferes with quality of life. Would you refuse medication because it doesn't cure ADHD and instead just manages symptoms?

Trust me people with adhd try everything. Sugar has little impact on my ADHD or that of my dc.

I think, if there really are this amount of kids, that are disabled, then someone needs to be looking at from a health perspective. 🤷‍♀️

As to what is causing it.

This report (although the original reports said 7 year olds), have been reported widely this week.

And others find cutting out sugar or going keto does help.

At an individual level we can all react quite differently. What we're discussing is population level.

They knew what drug had caused them. The court cases went on for years.

There’s no we as actually you have no right to lecture to others re their ADHD. Particularly so when scientific research does not show that sugar causes or directly worsens ADHD.Controlled studies comparing sugar and placebos show no difference in behaviour or cognitive function in children with ADHD. While some studies show a link between high sugar intake (such as sugar-sweetened beverages) and ADHD symptoms, this is usually because people with ADHD may struggle with impulse control and crave quick-energy foods.
Controlled double-blind studies disproved the idea that sugar triggers hyperactivity. The perceived high energy is often due to excitement, social settings, or the energy provided by food itself rather than a direct chemical trigger. Studies show that when parents believe their child has consumed sugar, they often perceive the child's behaviour as more hyperactive, even if the child only received a placebo

It shouldn’t be. The air (through cleaner fuel, less factories etc) is better than it used to be.

We have more cars on the road, but they are making the fuel cleaner than it was.

There is virtually no smoking in enclosed spaces now. Younger parents apparently drink much less than used to be the case.

So, unless it’s junk food, screen time, poor medical care at pregnancy/birth, or something else - it does need to be looked at by experts.

It seems odd that so many young children are now classed as disabled. 🤷‍♀️

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/10/15/more-seven-year-olds-on-disability-benefits-50-year-olds/

People come here and state their case strongly because they’re getting absolutely fucked off with the attitudes to disabled people being perpetrated by every colour of successive government, picked up on by the media and then spewed out on MN by people who half the time have no connection with disability and have no idea what it entails.

Everything at the moment is geared to cutting benefits and services to the most vulnerable in the country as though these are the people doing the most damage to the economy, when the fact is that they’re the low hanging fruit.

It’s much more difficult to engage fit and able bodied people who simply don’t want to work - and who are costing the country a fortune in benefits. There are huge anomalies in the UC system which allow people to do minimum work for maximum benefit.

None of these issues are being tackled effectively and yet there are not one, but two consultations on the future of disability benefits about to be reported back on. And if the government actually focused on improving the assessment system itself and ensured better decision making, they would save an absolute fortune in unnecessary and hugely expensive appeals tribunals which many claimants have to go through in order to get a fair decision.

The problem is that stopping the people who shouldn’t be claiming will involve restricting benefit rules even further, and that will inevitably screen out genuine levels of disability. That’s the reality for disabled people and the parents of disabled children. Basically they’re waiting to see where the hammer will fall and how badly they will be affected.

As someone who was on MN well before 2015, I can tell you, you are wrong. There were parents of DC with SEN then. For a start, in 2013 MN had the ‘This is My Child’ campaign. This was in response to a lot of judgemental attitudes from others. MN is bigger now, but we did exist back then too.

It is clear you don’t even understand the system. You talk about working from 10 and the job centre. That hasn’t got anything to do with DLA (or PIP). DLA/PIP are not out of work benefits and the job centre isn’t involved in assessing claims for them.

Disability benefits are based on needs, not diagnosis. You don’t need a diagnosis and a diagnosis does not automatically mean someone is eligible.

Ok so my son went through a stage at nursery of hitting, poor behaviour, not listening, general hyperactivity.

We totally eliminated TV before nursery (and after - he’s allowed an hour at the weekends only), and changed his breakfast from what we thought was a ‘good’ cereal to porridge with seeds, and his behaviour changed basically overnight. That was a few months ago and he’s like a different child, we just got his nursery report and they commented on how quickly he has ‘progressed’ in his behaviour and they no longer think he needs any kind of assessment or SEN support (they were mentioning this before)

And if people don’t believe me I’ll post the screenshot. So it can happen.

But those ‘needs’ can be fabricated. I don’t think the majority of claimants do this but like PP I know a woman who hobbled into her tribunal on a stick who otherwise is an exercise fanatic. Her mother went along for moral support and said she knows it’s not right but doesn’t want to argue with her daughter.

The daughter also has a ‘homeschooled’ child with an array of ND diagnoses which I think are less to do with being ND and more to do with her anxiety inducing upbringing involving a new stepdad and house every 2 minutes and a mum who treats her like a best friend

🤣The idea that we just feed kids chai seeds and SEND disappears. My dc have never hurt anybody or been poorly behaved in school so no need for life changing porridge here 😏 , they’re still living with lives severely impacted by autism and adhd.

DLA claims require evidence. DLA isn’t awarded just because the parent says the child had XYZ needs.

Yes I’m aware of that.

Then you will be aware that it doesn’t matter is parents ‘fabricate’ needs on the form, they won’t have the evidence to support those claims.

DS1 is a teen with an ongoing PIP award. He has complex needs. He still hits, bites, kicks. He doesn’t watch TV. His diet (mostly via enteral feeds - a mix of prescribed feeds and blended diet, he rarely eats orally) is monitored by professionals and he is allergic to many seeds. I would love for it to be as simple as eliminating TV and feeding him porridge with seeds.

Good for your son do you think Chai seeds will grow back the deleted piece if chromosome 16 for my son that is tjought to be the underlying reason for his complex disabillities🤔

Do the stats from other comparable developed countries emulated those of the UK?
Is it possible to drill into the UK stats of diagnosis by postcode. Is the rise related to urban/rural; affluent/poor?

@AgeingMillennial I’m tired of this narrative that a SEN diagnosis is to do with ‘poor behaviour’

My son has ASD and his teacher recently said he is a delight to teach. He listens, he is kind to others, he isn’t naughty at school. Sometimes he gets so distressed he threatens to kill himself at home though. Is that ‘poor behaviour’?

I volunteer with older children with severe special needs and they are actually very polite and kind to each other. Some are in their own worlds and have very few words but again not badly behaved. Do you have any experience of children with disabilities?

Parents are getting older. I don’t think we need a scientific study to understand the correlation. Older sperm > higher risk of autism. So many people are waiting till 40+ to conceive.

In fairness, chai seeds might be one of the few things I’ve not tried. 😂

Maybe we should 😂

More informed families (thanks to information sharing on the World Wide Web) realising they can get benefit help for their children?

50 year olds more likely to not need additional money, or are working (struggling maybe but working) so don’t qualify or decide the amount of information required not worth the application?

The Government are debating this in Parliament shortly. I am sure they have done the research.

Perhaps more help when children are younger, access to new treatments and drugs will help keep them out of prison later (which is much more expensive, because the prison population is overrepresented with people with ADHD who might not have ended up there if they were treated earlier?

I have an old school friend, known for over 40 years and her whole life has been lived on disability benefits. And by lord it’s miserable.

So if you, your children are not part of the group needing disability benefits you should be thankful.

Some parents will entrap their children on benefits because they want the money now, that should be sniffed out and schools do try. But the vast majority of parents claiming benefits for their children do so to try and give them a better chance in life because they have complex worries about what will happen when they can no longer advocate for their child. This is not a parental position to be envious of or want to make harder.

Can society support the seemingly increase in need? Well we need to try for everyone.