Autistic and ADHD readers set out the real extra costs of their lives, as PIP reviews near

A familiar claim keeps coming back in debates about disability benefits: that some conditions, including autism and ADHD, don’t really cost anything extra. A benefits advice website has now gathered evidence from the people who actually live with them.

Disability News Service reports that Benefits and Work, which has advised benefit claimants for more than 20 years, asked its Autistic readers and readers with ADHD, anxiety or depression last month to describe the extra costs they face. It published the results this week, and says it received a huge number of responses.

What people described

According to Disability News Service, the responses included:

• extra spending on travel, food and clothing
• replacing items that get damaged or lost
• managing sensory needs, including specialist clothing and equipment for emotional and sensory regulation
• specialist cleaning products, or paying for a cleaner
• paying for a private diagnosis, and the costs of home education
• higher fuel bills from spending more time at home

Benefits and Work said its readers expressed anger, disbelief and fear at claims that these conditions carry no additional costs. Disability News Service notes that the findings echo research published last year by the user-led mental health group Recovery in the Bin.

Why now

Two government reviews are due to report later this month, including the Timms review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Disability News Service reports that ministers have hinted both could recommend cutting cash payments for some people with invisible impairments, and that Autistic people, people with mental distress and especially people with ADHD could be offered services instead of disability benefits.

In July, disability minister Sir Stephen Timms told MPs there was a question about whether the PIP process could also point people towards help, alongside or instead of a cash payment. Disability News Service reports that he later promised that no PIP claimant would be forced to accept products or services instead of cash.

Our view

Neurodivergent people know these costs well, because they are the price of living in a world not built for neurodivergent people: the taxi when the bus is too much, the food that can be eaten on a bad day, the noise-cancelling headphones, the thing lost again and replaced again. Evidence like this matters because it comes from the people affected, not from assumptions about them. Any review of disability benefits should start there.

This piece summarises reporting by Disability News Service. Read the original article for the full story.