the Buckland Review has landed... and i have thoughts

reviewing the UK Govt's 'Review of Autism Employment', as an unemployed Autistic person

the Buckland Review has landed, and it's actually better than i'd expected. you can read it in full here: The Buckland Review of Autism Employment: Report and recommendations.

unsurprisingly they provide some rather miserable stats, which at least gives us additional evidence for arguing our cases... whether that is heard or not.

they make regular errors in using "neurodiverse" where they mean "divergent" (but then also using it to mean neurodiverse too, confusingly). but they do use identity first language ('Autistic people' which the vast majority of Auties prefer, instead of 'person with Autism'). and while they offer an 'easy read' version, there's no audio version... which is one of the most common access requests for NDs.

my main disappointment is that they don't mention anything about contributing factors to Autistic/ND wellbeing in life which makes employment even harder to reach/maintain.

e.g:

• the lack of any ND-specific supports through NHS to help speed up diagnosis and manage those aspects and comorbidities of ND conditions which can be managed/healed (like Trauma and disordered eating);

• the challenges of accessing PIP, or even LWRCA - tho they do note how hard it is to get Access to Work (which is actually the easiest of all benefits to navigate, ironically), and how few know it exists to begin with;

• the absence of genuinely safe/fit for purpose Safeguarding or Accountability or Trauma Informed practice anywhere - from school, to the medical system, to community services, to employment, to our overall political systems - which all add to existing Trauma and the fear of trusting others, or trusting that there might be any authentic 'leadership' in general;

• the propensity of obfuscation in common language, the normalisation of lying in the workplace and broader culture (and politics), and the lack of consent culture in general, which are antithetical and immoral to literal brains (e.g. asking questions for simple clarification often results in being treated like a troublemaker; being gaslit by our Govts when they use public funds to fuel private pockets and then deny they're doing so; plus all the isms which make life a scary place to be);

• the high correlations between neurodivergence and nonconforming gender and sexual identity, which adds extra exclusion and fear in life and the workplace;

• the fact that the kind of work many Autistic people want to do (and which is therefore easier for us to maintain) is creative and environmental (practical and ethically centred), and that kind of labour is valued and paid the least under current socioeconomic frameworks, making it even harder for us to find 'gainful employment' under Capitalism;

• additional challenges when self employed, which is generally better for our needs (working from home, at our own pace etc), but comes with a raft of admin and bureaucracy we're often not equipped to handle alone;

• the lack of affordable housing and the limited support when restricted by Housing Benefit caps, while landlords (including social housing) increase rent which HB won't cover (using a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to situations where there's far from one size of need or circumstance, where you're forced by DWP to 'get back to work' but the work available for part time constraints is never gonna pay the rent);

• the high likelihood that we won't have pensions, or wealthy parents with inheritance to pass on to us (because we're likely generationally undiagnosed/marginalised);

• (... ummmmmm ... what else did i miss?)

their recommendations are limited. mostly awareness raising in employers, increasing apprenticeships (tho seemingly only for younger Auties), and using Autism-centred employment pathways as case studies for the ways our particular skillsets are valued in certain sectors/roles (mostly IT, obvs). but i guess it's a start.

as a friend has been experiencing lately, what's not being deeply considered here is the impact caused when one person (or a minority of people) begin to more forcefully request reasonable adjustments, when the employer is not equipped to take on the extra burden that might require. yes there are supports which benefit the employer and the employee (notably AtW), but in smaller (especially grassroots, arts, eco style) orgs where much of the work is voluntary/low-paid, and those volunteers/workers are already overstretched, and there isn't enough revenue to employ extra hands (because Capitalism)... that's an extra load that will naturally make any additional access requests really hard to meet (even applying for AtW takes months, and relies on a lot of advocacy by the Autie without adequate supports).

this ends up making the (already on the backfoot) ND not want to ask to be any more of a burden than they already feel, and can build silent/subliminal resentment in their co-workers (who may also be undiagnosed or feeling unable to meet their own needs, again because Capitalism). one group's needs shouldn't create more burnout for another... but under current systems there's no wriggle room.

one of the most encouraging things to read here is therefore the acknowledgement that many of the requests being made by the Autistic community are things which will strongly benefit all employees. while that won't make requesting/enforcing those adaptations any easier, it at least gently acknowledges that the way we're currently 'doing business' (and life) as a society is not fuckin healthy for ANYONE.