Don’t drag my autistic children into the Tories’ war on ‘woke’ | Letters

I felt compelled to respond to the latest conservative criticism: Kemi Badenoch’s endorsement of dangerously false claims about the administrative burden of neurodivergence (What kind of person would drag autistic children into the culture wars? The Kemi Badenoch child, October 14). As a parent of two autistic boys without a formal diagnosis – the oldest on the waiting list for two years, with the younger one’s referral up in the air somewhere – I am absolutely furious. It’s hard enough watching your loved ones struggle without the support they need to keep them safe and healthy before they get swept up in Tory point-scoring against “woke” society.

Professionally, I am even more offended by these accusations of workplace interference and entitlement by people with neurodevelopmental differences. I am part of a research group investigating health inequalities among autistic people, and I can assure readers that there is ample evidence that any factor that equates to poor health outcomes is more common in the autistic community. This can and must change, with better knowledge and autism-based approaches to health and social care.

As a party that is apparently so keen to see people in work, the Tories should endorse support for neurodivergent people in work, and not make the workplace more hostile to the 70% of autistic people are unemployed. I suppose that finding answers to these problems is not the purpose of such polemical publications. We can only hope that in the coming years profound institutional changes can take place for better integration that cannot be undone by a future right-wing government.
Dr. Erin Beeston
Urmston, Greater Manchester

I have two sons diagnosed with autism. My eight-year-old is at the top of his class in every subject in a regular classroom, with no additional funding or accommodations other than a chair cushion that allows him to move around more than his peers. I have no doubt that he will achieve well academically, but future employers may need to understand that his brilliance comes with a directness and intensity that may not do him any favors as he climbs the career ladder. Understanding that removes a disadvantage, not creates an advantage, and it has nothing to do with his personal ‘resilience’.

My five year old is non-speaking and has much greater support needs. He had more than 200 words at the age of two and lost them all in what is known as a regression. He has just started at a special school. He doesn’t get transportation. How anyone can think that their position as a non-speaking individual with lifelong healthcare needs affords them any form of “economic benefit and protection” is beyond me. I am shocked and devastated by the willful ignorance of politicians who pass the blame for a lack of investment and funding onto the dissident and vulnerable.
Name and address provided

As a 62-year-old who was finally diagnosed with autism at the age of 58 (self-funded as it was a five-year wait for the Conservative-funded NHS), I can say it’s a personal revelation. I have Asperger’s. I have worked all my adult life, had a family and a successful career. Over the years, my struggles with anxiety, depression, and sometimes a very personal fear of my own madness have made parts of my life almost unbearable. The diagnosis is beginning to allow me to come to terms with those feelings, by giving me insight into my ‘difference’ from mainstream society and how to deal with it.

If I had known this about myself at an earlier stage in my life, it would have made a huge difference to me and the people around me. Any suggestion that a diagnosis of autism is an attempt to free-ride is complete nonsense. For me it is a joy to see that young people now have the opportunity to be diagnosed early and have a better chance to find their place in society.
Stuart Bruce
Box, Wiltshire