NIGEL FARAGE is known for having his finger on the pulse of mainstream public opinion (see his ‘right turn’ on deportation yesterday). In the same policy speech, however, he got it all wrong with his apparent dismissal of the existence of an autism crisis afflicting children, families and schools across the UK. At a press conference in Dover yesterday, when asked about the rising demand for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) support that is now bankrupting many councils, he parroted the mainstream media line that this is about over-diagnosis rather than anything real.
Farage not only lined up behind Wes Streeting, Bridget Phillipson and Liz Kendall to deny the problem is real, but also got his basic facts wrong. He blamed trigger-happy GPs, when, in fact, growing numbers of children with autism, a disorder that is assessed and diagnosed in specialist NHS clinics, for which there are often very long waits, is driving the SEN crisis in schools.
It has proved to be a major own goal. Farage has been denounced for ‘misinformation’ (of course!) and the mainstream media were able to stoke fear about cuts in services if Reform wins next week.
Farage needs to quickly change tack to undercut his political rivals as he usually does and blindside his opponents by saying something original, reaching out to the demographic who are wholly ignored in mainstream debates.
Autism and related neurological disorders now affect almost every family, community and institution in the country. Northern Ireland, which is the only area of the UK that has accurate monitoring, has rates as high as one in 20 for school-aged children in 2023.
It is lazy to blame GPs, parents or schools rather than facing up to the epidemic of neuro-immunological disorders that are crippling children and families across the UK.
Our son is one of the thousands of afflicted children, having regressed into autism after having an MMR and Meningitis C vaccination on the same day at 18 months old. This triggered immune problems, which affected his skin, sleep, bowels, behaviour, mood and mental development. He can’t have a conversation or look after himself. Despite spending 14 years in a range of schools, he never learned to hold a pencil, write his name or read a book. He will be dependent on us and the benefit system for the rest of his life. Sadly, we are not alone, and there are people like us on every street, in every estate and every community across the UK. Something is causing this rising crisis of neurological disorders, of which severe autism is the most obvious and challenging manifestation today. It is time for Mr Farage to become aware of this.
Spending a day in one of the 1000 SEN schools in England would help him understand the depth of pain and suffering involved in caring for children with severe autism. Promising to do more would make him immensely popular in communities that are struggling to support children with severe disabilities, with the attendant impacts on families that suffer much higher rates of divorce, worklessness and depression.
Trump’s Republican party is doing just this this with their campaign to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and an army of parents. Parents here, as there, are fed up with platitudes about improved public awareness, medical recognition and the joys of neurodiversity. But we don’t have anything like the same movement in this country. Our children are falling sick and arebeing diagnosed with neurological disorders. This is devastating – it undermines families and communities while bankrupting the government and wasting precious tax revenue on unproductive activity. Its prevalence is a sign that something is terribly wrong. No successful species can stand by and allow the next generation to be sicker and less able than the previous one. Farage, like Kennedy and Trump, could campaign on this front. I would urge him to talk to his pals in the White House and learn the lessons from the MAHA campaign.
Reform could undercut the political competition by demanding that we:
- Keep accurate records of autism diagnoses with an indicator for severity, using either SEND or NHS data, or both, as is already done in Northern Ireland. This is critical to understanding the scale of the problem.
- Prioritise efforts to support the families involved, speed up assessment and diagnosis, reduce repetitive bureaucracy and provide appropriate specialist schools and services. This is about better use of the money already being spent and public recognition of the scale of the challenge involved.
- Track new research now underway in the USA to understand the causes of autism. Ensure we learn from the findings, however uncomfortable, and act to protect the next generation before it’s too late.
- Relatedly, insist that the NHS and its arms-length bodies address the co-morbidities affecting people with autism that may explain some of the autistic symptoms being displayed. This is about treating the immune, bowel and brain disorders affecting our precious children and shifting the approach to see autism as a neurological rather than a behavioural concern.
If Farage and his troops are successful next week, they will have to face up to this crisis. They can’t ignore the problem that is bankrupting local authorities. Further, they need to be proactive and address the problems rather than denying that they exist. They might even find there’s some votes to be had!
