By Janine Booth

Autistic, dyslexic, ADHD and other neurologically atypical people face disabling barriers in society. Education, work, healthcare and more are not geared towards the way our brains work. The result can be poverty, social exclusion, even premature death.

And, of course, years of Tory government have made matters worse. When Labour wins the next general election, it will have a massive opportunity to make radical changes to improve the lives of neurodivergent people and our allies – changes such as those set out in Neurodivergent Labour’s Manifesto (The Labour Party Autism and Neurodiversity Manifesto – Neurodivergent Labour (ndlabour.co.uk).

But Labour’s National Policy Forum has ignored this issue. When its 2021 report contained no mention of neurodiversity, Party Conference voted to refer back the report to tell the NPF that it must do so. However, two years later, we have another NPF report that ignores the issue. 

Labour has one more chance to put this right, by including neurodiversity in its general election manifesto, with specific policies drawn up in conjunction with neurodivergent people. 

The Tories and LibDems have – hypocritically, given their record in government – started taking up the issue of neurodiversity. It is embarrassing for Labour that it stubbornly refuses to do so.

This is the background to our statement below:

Include neurodiversity in Labour’s manifesto

As members of the Labour Party and its affiliates, we are extremely disappointed that the National Policy Forum (NPF) report contains no mention of neurodiversity.

Under the Conservative government, autistic, dyslexic, ADHD and other neurodivergent people have been at the sharp end of austerity cuts and discrimination. Waiting lists for assessments are years long, health and social care services are underfunded and inadequate, and funding for neurodivergent schoolkids has been slashed.

There are millions of neurodivergent people in the UK, and millions more allies, and we expect an incoming Labour government to deliver significant and radical improvements to neurodivergent lives.

In 2021, the NPF failed to include neurodiversity in its report, and that year’s Party Conference voted to refer back the report because of this omission. By again failing to include the issue, the NPF has disregarded the democratic decision of Labour conference.

The NPF report includes an assertion that Labour will work with disabled people in forming policy, but by ignoring neurodivergent people in its own policy process, it is not implementing this commitment.

Labour was the first mainstream political party to include rights for neurodivergent people in its manifesto. With this NPF report, it is in danger of allowing itself to be overtaken by other parties, which in government have attacked the rights and services that neurodivergent people rely on.

We call on the Labour Party to include clear policies to improve rights and services for neurodivergent people in its manifesto for the forthcoming general election, and engage with its neurodivergent members in doing so.

Initial signatories:

John McDonnell MP

Micah Neale, Spelthorne CLP; Secretary, Neurodivergent Labour

Janine Booth, Disability Officer, Lewes CLP

Joseph Redford, Tunbridge Wells CLP

Carl Howes, Uxbridge and South Ruislip CLP

Myriam Roberts, Loughborough CLP; Unison

Mary Burgess, Tunbridge Wells CLP Secretary

Luke Hoggarth, Bradford

Add your name to the statement here