I grow weary of seeing the same narrative repeated. Every few weeks another newspaper appears to suggest that there are simply too many autistic children, too many children with ADHD, too many Education, Health and Care Plans, and too many parents asking for help. Rarely do those same newspapers ask why local authorities lose tribunal after tribunal. Rarely do they ask why waiting lists stretch into years. Rarely do they ask why parents routinely spend tens of thousands of pounds on independent expert reports simply to secure the education that Parliament has already said their children are entitled to receive.
Instead of asking those questions, the spotlight so often falls back on the children themselves.
It is easier to blame children than to confront a system that has been chronically underfunded and, too often, unlawfully administered.
The overwhelming majority of parents I represent are not looking for excuses. They are looking for understanding, suitable education and support. Above all, they are looking for someone to recognise that their child deserves the same opportunities as every other child.
Surely that should never become a controversial position…
What troubles me most is how quickly genuine disabilities are being reduced to βexcuses.β
A child with autism may struggle with noise, unpredictability, or sensory overload.
A child with ADHD may desperately try to control impulses they cannot always regulate.
A child with a speech or language disorder may fail to follow instructions simply because they did not fully understand them.
That is not bad parenting.
That is not laziness.
And it certainly should not be dismissed as a convenient label.
The article even suggests that teachers and parents are increasingly seeking SEND diagnoses to excuse poor behaviour.
But where is the evidence?
A teacher can observe a child in class, but autism, ADHD, and other neurodevelopmental conditions are diagnosed through proper assessment by qualified professionals.
Personal opinion is not the same as medical evidence.
Then the article goes even further by claiming this thinking is βseeping into the court system,β where judges sometimes consider ADHD or other conditions during sentencing.
But judges do not simply make decisions based on headlines or trends.
They hear expert evidence, apply the law, and consider the individual circumstances of each case.
So why is recognising a genuine disability being presented as something suspicious?
And that leads to an even bigger problemβ¦
For years, children with disabilities were misunderstood.
Children with dyslexia were called lazy.
Autistic children were labelled difficult.
Children with ADHD were simply described as naughty.
Others were punished for failing to follow instructions they could not properly process.
We were supposed to have learned from that.
Yet today, the same attitudes seem to be returning in a different form.
Instead of asking why families wait years for assessments, why councils repeatedly lose SEND tribunals, or why parents spend thousands trying to secure appropriate education, the blame often falls back on the children.
And that is the part I find hardest to accept.
Most parents are not searching for excuses.
They are searching for answers.
They want their child to be understood.
They want suitable education.
They want proper support.
And above all, they want their child to have the same opportunities as everyone else.
The real question should not be, βAre too many children being diagnosed?β
It should be:
Why are so many families forced to fight so hard just to get the help their children need?
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