Trans under-18s referred to gender clinics in the UK will allegedly be “screened” for autism and ADHD under planned NHS guidance.
Newly established youth gender clinics in England and Wales will reportedly screen trans and non-binary young people for “neurodevelopmental conditions” as part of a preliminary assessment.
The guidance, which will reportedly be released for public consultation before being rolled out later this year, will reportedly request that practitioners analyse “key areas” of a patient’s life, including social, cognitive, and physical growth, according to documents seen by The Telegraph.
“Given the high prevelance of neurodiversity identified within this population, all those attending the NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Service should receive screening for neurodevelopmental conditions,” a specification in the guidance allegedly reads.
PinkNews has contacted the NHS and asked them to confirm whether the claims made in the The Telegraph report are true and accurate.
The reported change in guidance comes as part of the continued implementation of the Cass Review – an independent report into the functionality and effectiveness of youth gender clinics in England and Wales.
The report, which was originally commissioned in 2020 in response to a rising number of referrals to what was England’s only youth gender clinic at the time, made upwards of 32 “holistic” recommendations in the provision of healthcare for trans under-18s in the UK.
It was heavily criticised by a variety of health experts and organisations, including the British Medical Association (BMA), which questioned the validity of paediatric expert and independent reviewer Dr Hilary Cass’ proposals, instead calling for “more research” into youth gender care.
Regardless, the NHS has continued to implement the recommendations with support from health secretary Wes Streeting, who has said on multiple occasions he believes trans women aren’t women and trans men aren’t men.
‘Multidisciplinary team’ to create treatment plan based on autism and ADHD screenings
According to The Telegraph, the NHS guidance will reportedly commission a “multidisciplinary team” of experts to create treatment plans for patients depending on the neurodevelopmental screenings.
The panel of experts, which it says will be involved in the screenings, will identify “the presence of neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD),” and any subsequent referrals to specialist clinics for autism or ADHD should be considered.
The Telegraph then claims that practitioners would need to determine if a young person’s symptoms of dysphoria are “caused by autism.”
The article’s claims have circulated across social media and received heavy criticism from experts and pundits who have argued that the alleged recommendation is both “ableist” and ignores that you can be transgender and also have autism or be neurotypical.
Trans reporter, Katelyn Burns, wrote on Bluesky that the position that being trans and autistic are mutually exclusive is “of course false” and “another excuse to assert state dominance over trans lives.”
Human rights group Stand For All director, Dan Sohege, also posted their condemnation of the guidance, calling for officials in the NHS and the government to “stop treating us as if we are ‘broken’.”
“How hard is it to accept us as us?” they continued. “i want to cry at the way we are talked about.”
Not only is it false that autistic people cannot separately experience gender dysphoria, but the implication that autistic are incapable of making decisions about their own life nd health is, as many experts have explained, inherently false and “ableist.”
Autistic non-profit Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) explains in a report on ending “myths” around neurodevelopmental disabilities that misinformation has caused society to believe that autism is “scary, bad thing that ‘happens to us’.”
“Autism is a developmental disability – and disability is a natural part of human diversity. Autism is something we are born with, and that shouldn’t be changed. Autistic children should get the support they need to grow up into happy, self-determined autistic adults.”
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