Health: Learning Disability and Autism Training

Lord Sterling of Plaistow Excerpts

Monday 10th February 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sterling of Plaistow (Con)]

My Lords, my involvement in autism over a number of years has been on two fronts. One is through Motability, where we are getting ever more people with an autistic background coming to us for mobility. Then, of course, as some noble Lords are aware, my grandson is on the spectrum but, pleasurably for me and all of us, at a low level. I can only emphasise what I have said so many times. I asked myself: is there anything new about what we want to do? Frankly, there is not.

I was very pleased indeed that the manifestos of all political parties—I am not getting partisan at all—all agreed that greater support for the disadvantaged and disabled are critical for everybody. I also want to say, from our experience and from my own experience, that the earlier you can identify autism, the better. That is the key. We were very fortunate that our little lad was identified at the age of three. Why? Because in the school he was at, the headteacher had actually studied and been trained and she identified it.

I deliberately thought, “I am not going to look at the old speeches I have made before. They are all there.” What I want to say specifically is that I have discussed many times with a lady many of you know, Professor Vivian Hill, the fact that, sadly, until we have many more educational psychologists who are in a position to make it quite clear and agree that somebody is on the spectrum, diagnosis will take too long.

Many of us here have chatted, individually, separately and together. People say, “Let us do some more analysis—let us wait another five years to see what we can understand”. We know what needs to be done. I have seen it myself in action. Fortunately, in the state school in West Sussex where he is at now, the headteacher has had training, and that makes a huge difference to how a school is run. It is a marvellous school, one of the finest state schools in the country, and they are so conscious of the training.

In practice, when you think about the identification of what we are talking about, a young teacher of 21 who might be in her first job, if she has had some training, it could well be that she can actually identify certain things. She can make a note and then ask the headteacher whether it should be looked at, so that autism is identified at a much earlier age. The opportunities then are immense. When people are trained and given the support they need, the children stand a much greater chance of going into mainstream schools and then, in due course, being able to get on in general life and society.

Having said that, I am afraid that people say that, somehow or other, those who are autistic should be made normal, like the rest of us. It is we who have to change. I have seen the autism figures and in actual fact, as they get older, only 16% of those on the spectrum have been able to have jobs. That is a problem of the employers. I have seen it myself in business. In practice, people are nervous handling somebody who they are told is autistic. We are the ones who have got to change.

On the need for training, I feel quite strongly about that—including for the public at large. My daughter’s little boy had a meltdown in a major store. It was terrible. He ran off and she ran after him. She got him to the floor and people surrounded them. She is quite strong, but she was so embarrassed that she picked him up to get him out, because she also had her little girl with her, and was thinking about what would happen to her if she ran away and left her. Did anybody come to support her at all?

The following day she had two policemen at her door saying, “We understand that you’ve abused your child”, and so she went on to the list. That is a shocking outcome. People did not volunteer to help. It is not just about educating teachers, which should be mandatory—no one should become a headmaster or headmistress until they are educated on this—but we should also find ways and means to educate the public, so that if they see something, they help and it registers with them that this person needs some support: “I’ll look after the little girl while you look after him”, et cetera.

I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, so much for introducing this debate. I should have thanked her at the start. I have very strong feelings on it.

Anxiety is a key factor in mental health. People are starting to understand, but it should become law that every headmaster and headmistress in the country, and anyone in a teaching role, should have compulsory education on this, so that they have the opportunity of picking up one or two points which can give a kid a chance early on.

Noble Lords probably know better than I do that the available support money in these areas is quite uneven in different parts of the country. In some, it is very high; in some, it is very low. Some do not have any support for people at all, or any understanding of what it is about. That must be addressed.

Now that we have got all of last year out of the way, I would like to think that, going forward, all political parties agree on this; it is totally non-partisan. I hope the Minister recognises that it would be a pleasure for all of us if things happened sooner. We do not need more analysis; we know what is needed and we need to get on with it.