Deputy leader of Reform, Richard Tice, is attacking disabled people again. This time he’s going after disabled kids.
At a recent Reform party press conference, Tice irresponsibly asserted that there is a “crisis of over-diagnosis”.
Tice, who splits his time between the UK and Dubai, was asked how Reform would tackle the SEND crisis, in reference to special educational needs and disabilities in schools.
His reply was as you’d expect.
“The best thing to do, actually, is to push almost all of it back to the schools. The schools know best, the teachers know best […] “stop labelling people. Just say, ‘You need a bit of extra support; you might need a bit of extra time. You’ve got to the mad situation now where children who don’t have any form of label are starting to feel left out”
Surprise, surprise, a right-wing ghoul is lying
It’s absolutely untrue that non-disabled kids are overlooked. This lie perpetuates the myth that kids are faking disabilities to conform or that their parents are looking to bypass private school fees.
He couldn’t leave it there.
“I’ll just raise one more point: the sight of children in classes wearing ear defenders — I’m sorry, this is just insane. It’s got to stop. The teachers want it to stop. Heads want it to stop. It’s not the right way forward.”
Tice provided no evidence for this claim — same as all his usual “motability rip off” bullshit.
He said that if the so-called SEND “crisis” was not resolved, there would be “no bins collected” — a veiled threat cut council funding.
Just last week it was reported by the BBC that county councils are struggling to cope with the increasing demand in the SEND system. Instead of supporting councils with extra funding, Labour has postponed SEND reforms.
Reform’s approach isn’t all that different from Labour’s. Back in May the School Standards Minister Catherine McKinnell didn’t rule out the possibility of scrapping Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP).
EHCPs are the only legal documents detailing the needs of disabled children, and scrapping them would remove the legal requirement, and moral duty, for schools to provide support.
Neurodivergence is underdiagnosed, especially in girls
The main point here, though, is that as usual Richard Tice is talking out of his arse. As any late-diagnosed neurodivergent person will tell you, it’s still massively under diagnosed.
The difference is that now there’s greater awareness of conditions like ADHD and autism.
There’s been huge uproar in recent years that women are suddenly identifying as neurodivergent because it’s trendy. In actual fact, we’re finally being given the space and knowledge to realise things we thought were “wrong” and “bad” about ourselves are traits of ADHD and autism.
Despite all the research to dispel the myth of ADHD being a thing only naughty boys have — or autism being something boys who love trains have — misinformation prevails. This means autistic and ADHD girls are ignored, so learn to mask their traits.
According to the ADHD Foundation, girls are three times less likely to be diagnosed than boys in childhood. Meanwhile, research from the University of Swansea found that it takes women and girls six years longer to get a diagnosis.
It’s even worse if you’re not white
It’s even worse for neurodivergent kids of colour.
Studies show that Indian, Asian and Pakistani children are less likely to be diagnosed with autism than white children.
Kids who speak a language other than English at home are significantly less likely to get a diagnosis.
It’s hard to track the problems non-white kids and parents face. According to Special Needs Jungle, children’s ethnic origin hasn’t been recorded on SEND tribunal data since 2017.
Warda Farah from Neurodiverse Connection explains that racial stereotypes play a big part in this. In particular, she highlights that black children in general struggle in schools as they’re often held to a higher standard than their white peers. This means neurodivergent black kids are often mislabelled as angry, disruptive or lazy before teachers consider neurodivergence. Farah explains further.
“They are less likely to be treated with the compassion or understanding extended to other children and more likely to be subject to harsh disciplinary measures. Rather than identifying a neurodivergent child’s difficulty with literacy or comprehension as signs of potential learning differences, educators often pathologise these behaviours.”
Support, not vitriol
On the whole, though, it’s a complete shitshow for neurodivergent kids. As of June 2025, 6,000 children have been waiting over a year for an EHCP.
The timeframe for them is supposedly 20 weeks. Meanwhile, parents aren’t believed and it’s harder than ever for them to get support. The last thing we need are right-wing grifters and the media belittling them.
It really shouldn’t need saying, but grown men should know better than to take the piss out of disabled kids. But in a country where politicians such as Tice get crueller and crueller, it’s no surprise.
Featured image via the Canary
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