Why are ADHD benefits in the firing line?

[FunStork]

I've been seeing this a lot recently.

Feels like the media is very much against ADHD benefits claims.

Why is that the one that seems to be getting all the focus?

Another one from BBC Verify tonight:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24ym9yd8p6o

Is this an orchestrated campaign?

Because people can’t see why it’s classed as a disability that needs benefits or understand how it can prevent a person from working. People believe it sounds like an excuse and that too many people are being diagnosed with it.

Such people are deeply ignorant.
Educate yourself

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/report-of-the-independent-adhd-taskforce-part-1/

She has been discredited. She has zero expertise in the conditions (which include cancer) that she is decrying.

DS isn't diagnosed yet but it seems likely he has adhd and compared to my other child he definitely has more costs. I need to buy multiple coats, hats, gloves etc. because he always forgets them at school and other places so he needs several spares to cover until I can find the missing ones. Higher water bills because he forgets to turn taps off or the shower off. Things get accidentally broken far more often with him than my other child so extra costs from that. Things like that, it all adds up.

You’d be wrong then. My cousins daughter gets it for just adhd. Also got a brand new car.

I don’t think the state should be paying for those extra costs.

Part of the NHS psychotherapy that you get after diagnosis in my area focuses on the additional costs nicknamed the ADHD tax.

But lots of kids lose things. Even if he does have ADHD I don’t think it’s up to the state, ie the taxpayer to cover those costs. The focus should be on strategies to stop him doing it.

Some people are literally clueless if they think you cant get pip for just ADHD. My cousins daughter gets it for just adhd, she also goes on holiday on her own, drives her brand new car around alone, goes to the nail salon alone, goes to get her extensions done alone, goes to the pub to meet her friends. She doesn’t go to college or work though as she can’t cope with that (cba) she has exaggerated the symptoms, she gets high rate mobility which I was shocked about, but it doesn’t mean you have to physically struggle to walk, you can also get it if you struggle to leave the house alone without significant support due to anxiety, plan and follow journeys etc

Some people of all ages are incredibly dismissive. I’m way over the age you quote, and I know that ADHD is a variable condition, it can be very extreme as a PP has experienced with her son. I also know that it is significantly higher in adopted children than in the general population.

Medication can certainly help some children, however I don’t know if it has the same effect for all.

Yes, but a lot of 16 year olds are paper based assessments. Most don’t get a full assessment due to their age.

Sorry, but the op asked why people don’t think those with ADHD deserve benefits, and I answered why people think that way.

What is the high rate mobility she gets?

The way you describe it, it sounds like you think she's committing benefit fraud. Do you?

If you've made it to adulthood then you're probably not so severely affected that you would meet the criteria, anyhow.

Can I ask why you feel that?

Is it just you think those costs are avoidable with appropriate support in place?

Would you feel different if someone had a stroke and they regularly forgot to turn taps off, would you be seeing it as a cost then or would you feel the same, that the state shouldnt be involved.

Im just curious if its the type of cost or the cause that is the main issue for you.

Dla and pip are meant to be about helping towards the additional costs of being disabled (this is distinct from esa and uc which are out of work benefits) and both are not means tested. The reason why adhd and other similar conditions are getting criticised for receiving these two benefits are because it can be hard to justify why they are incurring additional costs, neither are physically disabling, if anything adhd means you have additional energy (my friend took up long distance running to wean off the tablets that didn’t make him feel good) and anyway I can see the point. In its most severe form adhd can be disabling especially in youngsters who cannot be left due to impulse control issues which will incur additional expense but unless there’s comorbidities I don’t think benefits are really justified in most cases.

my dd is autistic and it was a nightmare getting benefits for her because they were not really understanding how she struggled, there was a lot of pressure to make them more available for non physical conditions and it does seem to have swung too far the other way. Even as late as 2020 I went to appeal on behalf of my dd who had been in hospital, was under a community psychiatric care order, has seizures and needs supervision eating on top of autism and other mental health problems that was refused yet just 3 years later it was much easier… something did change in the assessment

Lots of kids lose things, not many lose them on such a regular basis and to such an extent.
Do agree that the focus should be on strategies to stop it but I expect those with more severe adhd might never improve even with strategies (hopefully DS will, I don't think he's so severe) and that can be very tough on low income families so a bit of help will really help them (I can manage these extra costs myself thankfully)

I was stunned to get a letter the other day to say Id be getting PIP until I retire wothout any further reviews needed.
I have CPTSD and chronic arthritis, currently having all my joints replaced one by one working from home while in recovery. I work full time in a full on NHS job, live on my own.
I was granted PIP without any hassle at all and certainly wasnt expecting to be able to claim it long term. This was their decision.
I need it for sure or I wouldnt be claiming it and it gets me a cleaner, better physio and helps with other medical needs but I thought it would be a long fight to get it. It wasnt.

100% - and before you say report my mother already did

The high rate mobility whatever amount that is, she doesn’t get the daily care though so is appealing that decision. She got a brand new car due to getting the enhanced mobility.

I have ADHD it made school and friendships extremely challenging as a child and teenager but as an adult I have learnt how to manage it well. I would not ever claim PIP for ADHD now because I am thriving in life and cope well.

however, it would have been hugely helpful growing up to have known and been supported, not financially but with more understanding and compassion. If parents need PIP payments to access counselling or medication for children they should claim it, in my opinion.

It is those who are parenting poorly and exaggerating that need to be punished

This - I have very severe combined ADHD (with an NHS diagnosis). I hold down a high-pressure job (though I usually have to move every few years to avoid ADHD complacency) and I run a household but no-one sees the cost of doing that. When you’ve spent over an hour sat on the floor dissociated in the shower because you’ve burned out juggling what is perfectly fine for most people, you understand.

There are plenty of people who are dismissive (and I find it in younger as well as older people - I’m in my 40s, @dizzydizzydizzy). I’ve had people say that it’s a mental health condition (nope, it’s a neurological condition, world of difference), that you just need coping mechanisms, that everyone is a bit ADHD but you just need to pull your socks up. I don’t think people understand that there is a biochemical process in the brain that literally does not work properly in people with ADHD. It’s not that they’re not trying hard enough or that they’re undisciplined - their brain literally cannot do what others can without a massive strain on resources and a host of coping mechanisms.

I compare it to when your leg goes to sleep if you’ve been sat too long on the loo, say. You get pins and needles, you can’t move your leg or put weight on it. In no way does that mean you are a ‘little bit lame’ or that disabled people should just get a move on and wake their legs up. Just saying that would be completely outrageous and indeed ridiculous. The difference between having ADHD and being NT but having the odd scatty or unmotivated day, is the same.

I’ve considered claiming PIP in the past because my ADHD tax is so severe. But I keep forgetting to call up for the form. It’s been five years now 😂 Believe me, the number of people who would claim for ADHD if they actually had the ability to focus long enough to actually jump through the hoops would be insane 😂

This is essentially exactly what I think.

These days I could almost certainly get myself diagnosed but I have managed thus far in life despite many of the issues pps describe. I’m chronically late, disorganised and lose things and have been since a child, indeed I think there’s some washing in the machine right now that I’ve forgotten about for days, but I would never think this was a justification to say I have a disability or to claim benefits. There is a spectrum of these behavioural traits and if we move the diagnostic threshold down (which in essence we have) more people will be captured by it.

Because of benefit fraud.

People used to have a "bad back" to make a false claim. These days they have a child with ADHD.