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?

And a lot of the time this is also the problem when it comes time to transition to PIP at age 16.

That doesn’t match what Speech and Language UK say?

Yes I think that’s happening now.

67,000 out of 572,000 is:1 in 11

Your anecdotal evidence doesn’t reflect the actual statistics though.

There are no more neurodivergent individuals than there used to be.

DS is 12. We don’t know why he is autistic - could be genetic but I don’t really know my birth family history but it could down to the fact as he was premature, a knot in the cord and a the cord wrapped around his neck. He would have died decades ago.

That sounds more like it

I didn’t say neurodivergent

Sorry it’s 1 in 11

No you didn’t, you banged on about ‘emotional regulation’ and ‘non-verbal’

Yes that sort of tallies with the DLA stats although I know it won’t all be for that

That doesn’t mean neurodivergent

Yes, but Thalidomide wasn’t a naturally occurring difference. It was directly caused by the drug.

Yes I think there will be an environmental cause for the severe non verbal autism we see now, which they will find one day . I follow a mum of a child like this online, she does a LOT of research into it and she’s convinced it’s environmental (has had full gene studies etc)

I put a lot down to modern lifestyles. So many things are linked to mental health - diet (sugar, upfs), exercise, routine, gut microbiome, social media, blue light, sunlight, extended family networks, knowing your neighbours, etc etc. The list goes on and on.

On most of those counts we're worse off today than 40 years ago (comparing today's 50 yo with 10 yo).

There is more autism now but also kids in past decades were put in residential care. I went to primary school in the late 70s / early 80s. I knew of local two kids my age who went to homes because of their’ behaviour’ .The families kept it quiet and they were never talked about.

Kanner type autism is often referred to as severe autism see eg here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_autism

the dsm 5 has put Kanner type autism and Asperger’s together under one new diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder with three levels possible.

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/what-is-autism/the-history-of-autism/asperger-syndrome

under the new diagnostic system of dsm5 severe autism is the lowest of the three levels.

dsm5 is not available online for free so no links sorry.

All of you debating these issues - you realise these are actually people you’re talking about? I’m a parent of a disabled child and I work. Life is tough. It’s awful at times.

Indeed. We are about to switch to ADP from CDP. It’s a worrying time because if she loses it, she loses her car. People will insist that these benefits should only go to the most profoundly disabled people, but in my daughter’s category of “too disabled but not disabled enough” it’s really difficult. She can walk aided sometimes, but sometimes she can’t and uses a wheelchair. She never qualified for 1:1 care at school, but her support needs are so sporadic, there needs to be someone assigned to be there for her when she needs it. She doesn’t need a WAV or adaptions on her car (except a hoist for her wheelchair), but the size of car she needs to carry her wheelchair means it would be impossible to buy a car and get insured for it aged 17. Even though we like in a town, there are no routes she can safely use in her wheelchair to get to a bus stop. She has no access to any suitable sports nearby so if she wants to remain active she needs a gym membership and the means to get there. Any sports she has done cost extra because she needs an instructor and someone to support her. We need adaptions in the house to help her to be able to be independent. We have to buy equipment for her, specialist utensils etc. She goes through shoes and clothes so quickly because they are not designed properly for disabled people. Even the amount of crockery we go through as she drops it a lot, all adds to the cost!

So much of the world is designed for either totally disabled or totally not disabled. Those in the middle really struggle with it.

So what do you think is the cause?

Where did you get your PhD in neuro-disability?

Oh yes sorry missed a power of ten.

so the total number of children who might possibly be non verbal but most of whom won’t be is one in eleven.

those are the children who are receiving any kind of assistance from the school for any kind of speech and language problem. Some (probably most in practice) will be verbal.

Can you point to a specific cluster of a specific disability that has spiked significantly in the past 3 years?

Wow I wonder why you didn’t read so many posts on social media about autistic kids 30 years ago?!

I claim DLA for my 10 year old. He gets highest rate care and mobility.

Years ago, he simply wouldn't have survived.