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?

I walked past a poster yesterday that said 1 in 20 people have ADHD. We can’t afford to be paying for 5% of the population to get paid for having chaotic lives.
The PP who lists all the chaos caused by ADHD is typical of people who cling to their diagnosis as an explanation for everything that goes wrong in their life.
If people have always had ADHD why do we now have to sub them? It’s not a helpful message to people to tell them they are not expected to cope and it’s annoying for people who support themselves and deal with their own problems with zero support.

I think because there’s also a huge online trend of people seeking an ADHD diagnosis in adulthood, combined with the ADHD symptoms in childhood which stem from shit parenting.
It sets the tone for people thinking every ADHD claim is rubbish, particularly when there’s a huge strain on services and we do need to have grown up conversations about what support we are prepared to pay for and what we aren’t.

My dd has adhd.

she doesn’t get pip but if she did it would pay for her medications.

most gp’s don’t do shared care anymore and when she moved to uni she came off that consultants list and as most people know adhd lists are closed in many places.

the meds are not cheap and she has to be reviewed by a consultant every year which is a couple of hundred quid.

I have a child with learning disabilities, autism, adhd he’s been on the waiting list for 3 years now. (School referred, he’s in a Sen school) he absconds, he needs a handling belt. He is frankly a fucking menace outside and requires 2 adults to his one self realistically to stay safe. He is violent and can also be a risk to himself. He has transport to and from school.
He needs help with all forms of personal hygiene. We go through massive of clothing and bedding because he chews them.
He doesn’t get the higher mobility rate even though he is a massive fucking risk and he would be entitled to a wheelchair now he’s too big for the SEN pushchair, he just refuses to go in it. I didn’t lie on my forms. I didn’t even over egg the pudding as many suggest. I was able to give evidence of my examples.
The issue people have probably wouldn’t be with someone like my son, if they spent a day dealing with him they’d likely not begrudge any help we get.
I think when people hear about those who have lived independently and haven’t seen their internal struggles caused by ADHD, it annoys them, especially when they get higher rates etc.

Recently a (ex) friend of mine decided her DC has adhd, which just because I didn’t see signs of, I supported her with. But then she was asking about my son, what things he did for his DLA. She admitted she was sick of everyone getting free money and thought she’d try too. It’s sad but because the media keep telling us adhd is paying so well for people who don’t need it, more people are thinking they’ll try it then. It’s a viscous circle.

I have adhd myself, late diagnosed woman in my 30s, I haven’t applied for DLA because I don’t need it. But my life has been a struggle. From antidepressants from 13 to the rest of my life. From the struggles with jobs, friends, relationships. I have dyslexia that wasn’t picked up on because I was “naughty”. It’s a horrid thing to live with. But I found ways to cope. Not everyone is as lucky.

You are clearly wrong about that given the huge surge in adult diagnoses. Waiting lists for adult ADHD clinics around the country are through the roof not to mention people paying privately.

Does she not get NHS care?

Totally agree!

And get that PIP application in. There are people out there who you can pay to do it, eg Benefits and Work. I’m sure there are people who specialize in ADHD applications but I don’t know who they are.

No it doesnt
Im currrntly in the process of applying for PIp for my severly autistoc non verbal 16 year old
A diagnois doesnt gurantee an award it goes off need.
And you need proof proper , proof not just a quick mum says letter from the gp.

I think its because its the area that has shown a big increase - 40% up from 2 years ago, where other conditions have been more stable.

I dont have any issues with adhd as adisability but I think its fair to look at why the numbers increased so much in quite a short time frame. Is there something we should be doing better to support young people.

Does it reflect the lack of jobs so people who wouldnt previously have claimed even though eligible now do (as universal credit is very low) plenty of eligible people dont claim and although it's not an out of work benefit, the incentive to claim is bigger if you can only find part time work or no work.

GPS are stopping shared care even for NHS diagnoses. They are being handed back to who diagnosed to monitor and prescribe. That’s great if you are NHS diagnosed but not for those privately diagnosed. The NHS ADHD taskforce has said NHS wait lists are far too long and more need to be diagnosed on the NHS.

‘People out there who you can pay to do it…specialists in ADHD’ is this not what is called a racket? This is what the general taxpayer population disagrees with a whole industry of people existing to game the system.

Because it's really hard to draw the line between "flaky" and "ADHD". I've reviewed the symptoms list a few times and never found a satisfactory match, because either I don't have ADHD or if I do it is more than adequately sorted by my coping mechanisms.

My husband has traits that are ADHD-adjacent too, but earns six figures.

Many ND traits are badly exacerbated by the modern world. It's not surprising that in a world where we have so many systems demanding our attention, and random bullshit tasks, that more and more people find their ability to cope strained to breaking point.

The numbers have increased because knowledge has improved particularly re women and girls who were previously shut out of the diagnosis process. The NHS taskforce says even with the increases it’s underdiagnosed in this country.

The crappy reporter who wrote that article has clearly not read the independent NHS taskforce findings which is pretty shocking.

You are not a diagnostician.

This isn’t why numbers have increased( but still below where they should be)

It’s because you can get DLA easily if you have ADHD. A family member wanted her son to have extra time in an exam so paid £1,000 for a private ADHD diagnosis for him and now gets around £200 a month DLA. Said son functions perfectly fine, is at a grammar school, has loads of friends organises his life fine and has no extra needs. Easy money.

She moved area.

you have to restart at the bottom of the waiting lists.

it used to be the case that consultants would diagnose, then see you while the medication was adjusted until the dose was right and then most gp’s would accept “shared care” where the gp would continue the prescription as long as no changes.

recently more and more nhs areas are now recommending to gp’s that they don’t do this (it was always up to the gp anyway) so you have to stay consultant led.

she went away for uni and her gp there accepted shared care and she got her meds unchanged through uni.

then she came back home and our gp doesn’t do shared care and our nhs area guidelines are for gp’s not to do it so she needed to get in the queue to see an consultant but because she’d been moved away for three years she wasn’t on his list anymore so she’s bottom of the waiting list.

The waiting list in my area is over 1000 people awaiting a meds review and I’ve been told because she’s been out of area and prescriptions are the individual responsibility of the consultant and he doesn’t work there any more she’d need a full assessment which is somewhere between a year and five year wait.

https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/service-detail/service/adult-attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd-clinic-25/

so we (I) pay.

This is bullshit. No specialist can get you PIP just for ADHD. The form literally isn’t geared for that and that’s ignoring the huge amount of rhobust evidence that is needed. My daughter has severe nhs diagnosed adhd, her adhd alone would not get her pip. Her other conditions do.

You would struggle to get benefits for it though unless you could provide strong evidence that you were functioning well below the level of a typical adult. If you're holding down a job that's usually enough to convince them that you're not disabled enough. If you've managed to achieve any qualifications, they can be used against your claim as can having pets, children, a partner or spouse etc and managing your own finances (i.e nobody has power of attorney for you etc). People who qualify for these benefits often do not have any of these things. It's not as simple as being diagnosed then getting the money.

I think for several reasons:

1. It's a very easy one to misdiagnose or self diagnose
2. There are very minor differences between the child with very mild ADHD and the child without ADHD who's very active. It's a lot less obvious than some other conditions
3. There are some highly dodgy "doctors" who will diagnose it in private clinics, to get money having convinced patients or their parents that they know what they are doing and the expensive "diagnosis" will be helpful. While in theory, this could be the case for any disability/illness, the huge waiting times for ADHD diagnosis on the NHS, coupled with the fact it isn't life threatening, makes it much more likely that a child will have been misdiagnosed, than other conditions. This means a "diagnosis" in its self is unlikely to show a need for DLA or PIP.

DS is 19 and has been receiving the enhanced rate of ADP since aged 16. He has regular hours with an agency to pay for the running of his car. He needs to work as the money he receives from the state isn't enough to cover all costs. We explained he needs to work as we cannot afford to pay for all bills and his car too.

No absolutely not a racket. The form is so hard to fill in that my doctor told me in no circumstances was I to fill it in by myself. I told her I have a degree etc, and I was sure I’ll be fine etc and then she started explaining to me that no matter how intelligent and well educated a person is, they need help because it is very specialist. For example she said that there are a number of words that have very specific meanings in PIP and you have to know about this. Ther are also very specific ways that you need to explain your difficulties. If you don’t know this, your application is likely to fail not because you are undeserving but because you have supplied the information in tbe wrong way. This will particularly apply for invisible conditions like ADHD. it won’t matter so much for very obvious or exceptionally severe disabilities.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czrxj5vvey0o

DS is on just over £450 per month ADP.

You know, my brother who is uni educated and in education himself, had to fight for my Niece to get a place in a SEN school.

She has a genetic disability which means she is profoundly disabled, in nappies at age 11etc.

And I mean fight. Appeal boards all sorts of things. I promise you, SEN schools do not admit children who do not need it.

The funding is so stretched and places are so scarce.