Hansard

I, too, thank Alexander Burnett for bringing the debate to the Parliament, because it is on a hugely important topic with which I am intimately concerned. I should declare my diagnosis with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and the fact that I am a trustee of the ADHD Foundation. I make that declaration because, quite simply, it is impossible to talk about the issues without discussing the intersections between the conditions.

Alexander Burnett, in setting out the case, was absolutely right to make a distinction between autism and learning disabilities and to take us through the issues surrounding diagnosis, education and employment. In all those categories, people with autism face critical issues, and there is a failure to provide joined-up assistance for them.

I will briefly mention Joan McAlpine’s contribution. Although I want to focus largely on the role of the commissioner, the point about day care cannot be made—[Inaudible.]—a number of day care organisations facing exactly the challenges that Joan McAlpine mentioned. Those organisations faced challenges before the pandemic, but the challenges have been deepened by the approach that has been taken during it.

Alexander Burnett mentioned shocking cases regarding the incarceration of people with autistic spectrum disorder, and I will add some additional shocking prison facts. People with ADHD account for around 3 to 5 per cent of the general population but 25 per cent of the prison population, which is five times the incidence in the general population. In the general population, dyslexia has an incidence of 10 per cent, but half of all prisoners have dyslexia. Around 2 per cent of the general population have autism, but between 4 to 8 per cent of the prison population are found to have it, which is two to four times the general incidence.

That is shocking. The disproportionate level of people with those conditions in prison represents an abject failure of public services and public policies. If any other section of society was overrepresented in that shocking way, there would be a national outcry. We need a broad change in the way that we approach those conditions and the way that we design services to address them, because, right now, there is a silent failure of huge proportions that has occurred for people with those conditions.

Autism and learning disabilities need the focus of a commissioner—[Inaudible.]—is broad and systemic. People within the broad bracket of neurodiversity conditions account for 20 per cent of the overall population, but the services that they use are not joined up and are not designed for them. As Mark McDonald outlined, people have to fight to gain access, and they are being failed. I do not deny that progress has been made, but, all too often, policies have been confined to the silos of education and health. The policies do not involve joined-up thinking and, ultimately, they are not designed to help people in their day-to-day lives; they are designed to manage the deficit and disability rather than to help people with their talents and capability.

A change in attitudes is also required, because we find, all too often, that the conditions are used as terms of abuse. When was the last time that members heard someone regard a person’s spelling as “a bit dyslexic” or someone failing to pay attention as being “a bit ADHD”? When was the last time that members heard a person described as being “on the spectrum” because they appear slightly odd or socially inadequate? The sad reality is that, all too often, people use those terms as terms of abuse and do so acceptably and without reproach or comment. Attitudes need to change, as well as services and policies. That intolerance is completely unacceptable and must end.

In closing, I will briefly mention the Morgan review, which underlined the fight that people have to make, the marginalisation that people experience and the fact that, all too often, although the issues are acknowledged, mainstreaming simply means pupils being placed in cupboards for the provision of their learning or part-time timetabling for their education. The need for change has never been more apparent. A commissioner could be the lightning rod for that change, because people with autism and learning disabilities need change—[Inaudible.]—with talent, ability and contributions to make. Without those changes, they will simply be denied the ability to take part in society that they have every right to expect.