Kemi Badenoch's campaign team argued in a Renewal 2030-branded pamphlet, published on October 13th, that autistic children and adults receive undue, "better treatment" at school and at work.
Badenoch's pamphlet notably attacked the process of reasonable adjustments - a measure introduced in the 2010 Equality Act. This forced employers to make slight changes to minimise disadvantages faced by disabled employees, such as making it non-compulsory for workers to declare disabilities during the hiring process. One example of reasonable adjustments would be giving a neurodivergent worker advanced notice in chances to their work schedule.
"Muddled" and "[not] based on any evidence"
Sir Robert Buckland, a former Conservative MP who published a review into employment among autistic people, called the section on mental health and autism "muddled" and "[not] based on any evidence" due to its conflation of autism with mental health issues. The Buckland Review, published earlier this year, found that 70% of autistic adults are unemployed, compared to just 20% of non-disabled adults, because there are "too many barriers to work".
"Belittles the struggles of autistic people"
Dr Hannah Belcher, an autistic lecturer at King's College London, also criticised the pamphlet. She stated that its claims, "belittle the struggles of autistic people, implying we have adopted some identity to gain advantages above others".
The pamphlet went on to attack increases in NHS mental health spending. It argues that the increase in expenditure from £4 billion to £16.8 billion (since 1999) grossly outpaces inflationary increases, which "would have seen a rise to £7.3 billion".
This critique of NHS spending increases was quickly denounced by Alexa Knight, a Director at the Mental Health Foundation. She said that, "NHS mental health support has been underfunded for decades [...] the almost 2 million people on waiting lists for mental health support can attest to that".
A spokesperson for Badenoch stated that it was, "wrong to infer any prejudice". Badenoch herself is yet to formerly make a statement responding to the criticism.
