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Conservative leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch has been accused of “stigmatising” autism after she endorsed a report that suggested people with the condition get “economic advantages and protections”.
The pamphlet, which Ms Badenoch launched, also claimed that they receive “better treatment or equipment at school”.
Former Conservative cabinet minister Robert Buckland hit out, saying the document should not be “stigmatising or lumping certain categories in with each other”.
The row comes just weeks after Ms Badenoch triggered a furious outcry at Conservative conference after she claimed statutory maternity pay was “excessive”.
She later backtracked but also raised eyebrows when she claimed that thousands of civil servants were so bad that they should be in jail.
She is up against the equally controversial Robert Jenrick, who last week suggested he regrets covering up cartoon murals at a processing centre for lone child migrants when he was immigration minister.
The document, which includes contributions from 24 of her supporters, looks at the way the Conservative Party can get “back on track” after its disastrous general election defeat to Labour.
It reads that “the socialisation of mental health so everyone has to treat you differently has failed to improve people’s mental health outcomes” and that this has “created costs and failed to improve people’s mental health”, according to the I newspaper.
The section specifically references autism and anxiety, stating that people diagnosed with these conditions get “economic advantages and protections” not given to their peers.
“If you have a neurodiversity diagnosis (e.g. anxiety, autism), then that is usually seen as a disability, a category similar to race or biological sex in terms of discrimination law and general attitudes,” it states.
A spokesman for Ms Badenoch said it would be “wrong to infer any prejudice” from the report. They added that she wrote the foreword for the report and that its authors “see the rising impact of mental health and its effect on productivity” as a critical issue facing society.
Mr Buckland, who published a review into employment rates among autistic people earlier this year, told the paper the section appeared “muddled”.
He added that the report shouldn’t be “stigmatising or lumping certain categories in with each other”, adding: “Anxiety is not a neurodiverse condition… autism is not a mental health condition.
“That part of the report didn’t seem to me to be based on any evidence, and mixing up autism with mental health is not right. It’s not the correct approach to be taken into this.”
His review had found at least 700,000 autistic people are economically inactive because of barriers to work.
Josh Babarinde, the justice spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said the comments in the report showed that Ms Badenoch “has proven herself to be completely out of touch with the British people”
“These comments show a Conservative politician without compassion and understanding of people’s lives,” he added.
Ms Badenoch’s campaign has been approached for comment.
