How Wes Streeting Is Weaponising Autism & ADHD Diagnosis
How diagnosis is being used to obstruct peoples rights to social welfare
It seems that with each passing week I am writing some statement or article speaking out against institutions in the UK. Wes Streeting has not disappointed this week with his latest attack on the welfare of Autistic & ADHD people seeking diagnosis, and those of us with close proximity to the mental health system.
Streeting's primary argument is that autism, ADHD, and mental health conditions are overdiagnosed. He then goes further to say that the diagnoses themselves are barriers to being self-sufficient and lock people into a life as benefits claimants.
Unsurprisingly, these ideas are rooted in ableist neoliberalism and a desire to reduce the cost of welfare to our ruling government.
While not actually specifically required, diagnosis often unlocks paths to social welfare benefits. Many of us struggle to claim PIP and Universal Credit without a formal diagnosis. Even then, we are often subject to unreasonable or inappropriate commitments to look for and engage in work.
So, we live in a world where much support is locked behind diagnosis, and now Streeting wants to obstruct the path to diagnosis by invalidating the very thing the system is forcing us to do in order to access support.
The assertion that autism and ADHD diagnoses lock us into a life of claiming benefits is a gross oversimplification of the situation. One I believe has been made to obscure the truth; if we want more neurodivergent people to enter the world of work, we need to address the systemic and institutional barriers that block our ability to thrive in that world.
Many of us are unemployed or under-employed because the workplace is an inherently discriminatory environment, and the world places unfair obstacles on our path to access.
Reducing access to welfare benefits will not help us get into work. It will only serve to place entire communities deep into poverty. This attitude that we should all strive to be self-sufficient is based on neoliberal attitudes that require us to minimise our cost to the system.
The implications that autism, ADHD, and mental health conditions are overdiagnosed is a political statement, not a factual one. Diagnoses rise in a hostile world, and if anything, these things are under-diagnosed. Wes Streeting is seeking to invalidate these diagnoses as a cost cutting exercise, not one for the betterment of neurodivergent lives.
Thus, we must fight and obstruct the governments path to asserting such fallacies as a matter of urgency.
I will.likely have more to say on this in time, but these are my initial thoughts for now.