Imagine being told, “You’re not experiencing suicidal thoughts, so you don’t qualify for help.” That’s the reality facing many adults with ADHD in Scotland today.
This month, the Scottish Parliament officially launched a public inquiry into ADHD and autism support pathways. It follows growing pressure, including Petition PE2156, which calls for urgent reform of a system that isn’t working.
To give you a sense of scale:
📊 42,530 children in Scotland are currently waiting for neurodevelopmental assessments.
But here’s what keeps getting overlooked: adults are still being erased from the conversation. Many are being told that unless they’re experiencing suicidal ideation or extreme clinical risk, they don’t qualify for care under Tier 4.
In plain terms, you have to be “in crisis enough” to access help.
That’s not a rumour. It’s real. And it’s wrong.
This isn’t just about ADHD or autism. It’s about how far you need to fall before the system catches you. Who gets seen. Who gets heard. And who gets left behind.
The public inquiry offers hope, but also risk. If we don’t speak up, adults will be forgotten again. That’s why I’m asking anyone affected, or anyone who simply cares, to take a few minutes to read, reflect, and add your voice.
• Watch the Scottish Parliament video from 18 June 2025
• Submit to the official public inquiry
This is not self-promotion. It is participation. And it could change lives.
Thank you for reading. Every voice matters. Especially now.
by Immediate_Link_376
12 comments
The current reality is that there’s only so many resources provided, and so it’s very much a case of the most extreme cases getting the care and the more moderate are left out.
Which really ties into the fact that we, as a society, aren’t really sure how we want to address our increased understanding of neurodivergence. There are people with Autism and ADHD that can operate successfully in the current system, there are others that could be more successful with better universal supports in the system, and there will be people who need specialised supports no matter what we do.
Scotland, like many other places, hasn’t figured out where that line is, yet.
Just wait until you hear about Transgender kids waiting lists…..oh wait they banned them getting support
It’s a form of uncounted nhs privatisation. Most people who want to get an autism or adhd diagnosis have to go private because the waiting lists can be several years. Yet this is never counted towards the creeping privatisation of the NHS.
That’s about 5% of children
NHS staff member here qualified to provide assessment and diagnosis. The govt funding isn’t there. The number of people on the paediatric ND teams is pitiful given the number of assessments waiting, everyone throws up their hands saying what a shocking state of affairs, but this really is a problem that would be solved hugely by throwing money at it. Fund more staff who are qualified to do good quality assessments. We have to backlog waiting lists and prioritise according to severity because there’s not enough.. We’re deluged and the political will and funding isn’t there to help solve the problem.
It may sound a hot take, but isn’t.
The psychiatric hospitals getting shut down is having far worse consequences for people than was ever foreseen.
Of course, terrible things went on in many, but I think establishing new ones will help immeasurably, as well as taking the pressure of councils for the provision of care in the community schemes.
Is that figure for under-18s, or is the cutoff age lower? I’d be interested to know what 42,530 is as a percentage of the measured population, and what the age distribution is for children referred.
Presumably there are only so many state funded psychotherapists and similar, and so so many children are being classified as having additional needs, whether rightly or wrongly.
I dont have all the answers, but I think its probably time we admit that if ADHD is as common as people are currently claiming, then maybe it should be classified as a personality type with no recourse to extra public funding/ support.
How many of these are just kids with parents wanting an easy label and a get out for lousy parenting.
The ready demand for a label takes away support and services for those who need them the most.
This is something I feel really passionate about.
My mum new there was something with my brother routine she was ignored for pretty much his whole life. Didn’t see camhs until he attempted to sexual assault our cousin and was taken into social care. Turns out he has autism.
Not neurodevelopmental but I was at crisis point with hallucinations, delusions, acting dangerously and was definitely at crisis point. 3 months before I saw someone and absolutely nothing in the meantime, not even self help advice despite my life falling apart and I was totally detached from reality.
My partner always believed he had ADHD and was recently really struggling. He went to his GP to see about being refered to begin medication. Turns out, despite everything when he was younger and his family being told he had adhd, he was never formally diagnosed. The clinicians at the time only documented it was likely and he was showing symptoms. Meant no meds for him and then was told there were no nhs options for him to be assessed now as an adult. Had to pay to be diagnosed privately and got the diagnosis confirmed today, not that it means as much now as he had to drop out of his nursing degree already bc he couldn’t cope.
The system is awful and needs change desperately.
It’s interesting that the number of kids seeking to have neurodevelopmental issues diagnosed has increased so dramatically, especially since Covid. I wonder what the cause could be. Seems very concerning.
It has a huge impact for schools, not least as it exempts these kids from all sorts of requirements around exams, and necessitates expensive additional support.
I ended up having to quit uni cuz they made me wait so long 🤧
> **how far you need to fall** before the system catches you
I think this is a good point, and it applies to lots of other stuff like housing too. I couldn’t find a place to rent so I had to let myself become homeless and went into the council every morning until I eventually got given temp accommodation. And then the actual council housing has like a 10 year wait apparently. It’s a wonder how anyone gets by these days.
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