JOE ROBERTSON: As a Tory MP, I was told I had ADHD at 42, but I don't need benefits… and nor do most like me
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For all my life, I’ve been forgetful and found it hard to concentrate on one thing at a time. I thought it was a flaw in my personality.
But watching my two children grow up, I have become increasingly interested in the way people learn and get on.
So, aged 42, I recently decided to be assessed for ADHD. For an NHS test the waiting list in my area was over a year. So I paid £900 for a private appointment.
After a two-hour Zoom call with a nurse and a brief questionnaire, I received an email confirming my ADHD diagnosis in just 72 hours.
Accompanying it was a nice template letter evidencing my diagnosis to show to anyone who needed to see it. That was it.
The diagnosis explained why at school, I was always in trouble for being easily distracted, focusing on the ‘wrong thing’ and ‘not sitting still’. I can rarely watch TV for that reason and misplace stuff.
Shadow disabilities minister Joe Robertson was recently diagnosed with ADHD and knows that he doesn't need disability benefits
But I’ve never seen these traits as negative. If anything, they help me with my job as an MP, where I often need to respond at short notice, juggling demands from all angles. I find switching between tasks remarkably easy.
It made me wonder: would diagnosis as a child have helped me or held me back? I’ll never know.
What I do know is that, despite my ADHD, I don’t need disability benefits. Yes for some it is debilitating and accompanied by other conditions. Such people may shoulder a financial cost and should be supported by the state.
More than 100,000 people in Britain receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP) with ADHD as their main ‘disability’. Unless we get a grip on this, we risk writing off a generation of young people before they get to discover what they are capable of.
The Government needs to stop thinking of new ways to give ever more things to ever more people. We need to help people learn, train, work and get on in life.
The way the welfare system treats conditions such as ADHD is not only unfit for purpose, but unkind. Kindness would mean offering treatment, therapy and practical help when needed.
More than 100,000 people in Britain receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP) with ADHD as their main ‘disability’
It means helping employers make reasonable adjustments, putting proper support in schools and giving people the confidence to go after the careers they want – rather than reasons to limit their ambition. That is why Kemi Badenoch has set out a detailed plan to reform welfare and save £36billion a year.
Under the Conservatives, people with mild mental health conditions would no longer receive monthly cash payments, but would be offered community and employment support, for which we have ringfenced £1billion. Another £1billion would go to support for families and children with learning difficulties.
It would also ease the burden on hardworking people at the bottom paying for a lengthening list of benefits. Since 2019-20, spending on PIP has gone from £12.5billion to £32.1billion a year. This is lunacy: Britain has not become twice as disabled in six years.
Most people like me do not need a disabled railcard, subsidised Motability car or monthly cash payments that arrive whether they are in or out of work.
The next Conservative government will support those in real need and expect more of those who can manage, which is what the people paying for it have every right to demand.
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