Britain’s insistence that autistic drivers declare their condition is another slice of breathtaking ignorance

Surely if people have issues that could compromise their ability to drive, the test ought to be able to pick those up regardless of whether they are on the autism spectrum or not?

My wife and I have known for a while that our son was likely on the autism spectrum. We went through the lengthy and somewhat tortuous process of securing a formal diagnosis (which confirmed it) with the aim of securing for him the support he needs to thrive as he moves into secondary education.

Just days after receiving it, I’ve been left in the horrible position of questioning whether we did the right thing.

Late last week it emerged that an autistic person had noticed that the DVLA’s website said drivers must disclose it if they have a diagnosed autism spectrum disorder. This was news to them. The previous instruction only said they must inform the agency if their condition could affect their driving. In the case of many autistic people, it doesn’t.

The change – described to me by the DVLA as “recently updated advice” – is a subtle one. But it is important and seems to be one of those things that government agencies and departments quietly shuffle out in the hope that no one notices until someone does.

Now they have, the National Autistic Society (NAS) is seeking urgent clarification. No wonder.

It does rather look as if whomever made the decision watched Rain Main on Netflix, or something, and thought, oo-er, we’d better find out if some of these scary people are out and about on the roads.

The ignorance of the condition that the change, or the “update”, call it what you will, displays is quite breathtaking, but sadly not uncommon.

For the record, autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others (I’m quoting here from the NAS).

All autistic people share certain difficulties, but being autistic will affect them in different ways. Some have learning difficulties. Some have mental health problems. Some have other issues, the key word being “some”. Autism is a spectrum, and its manifestation is wildly diverse. The autistic population is as variable as the human population.

Set against this, you have a government agency wanting, in effect, to label everyone within it; to have them sew a big letter A onto the front of whatever they happen to be wearing.

OK, I’m exaggerating there, but only a bit because that’s where this sort of thinking leads.

We have been told that the UK driving test has been made harder than the one I took a couple of decades ago. If people have issues that could compromise their ability to drive, and their safety on the roads, surely it ought to be able to pick those up regardless of whether they are on the autism spectrum or not?

This would rather suggest that the DVLA doesn’t have a lot of faith in it. Unless, that is, the someone or someones who came up with this idea is just a complete and utter berk. I wouldn’t rule that out as possibility. In fact, I’d suggest that that is most likely cause of what’s going on here.

Perhaps someone from the Department for Transport should drag them in front of the secretary of state so they could be asked “what were you thinking?”

Remind me who that is? Oh Christ. It’s Chris bloody Grayling. If there’s anyone you wouldn’t trust behind the wheel of a car, or with anything else for that matter, it’s the guy who gave a no-deal Brexit ferry contract to a company that didn’t have any ferries and then had to bung Eurotunnel £33m for royally screwing up the procurement process.

If it were down to me, the DVLA, no the entire department, would now go and book somewhere for an away day with the purposes of receiving some much-needed training on what autism really is.

A person within the autistic population with the capacity to pass a UK driving test will be as safe on the road as anyone else. They might be safer than some.

Part of the way the condition manifests itself in the case of my son is through his absolute determination to adhere to rules. I’m sure that would include the Highway Code were he to learn to drive, a document that is regularly ignored by, what, 60 per cent of the motorists in London? Eighty per cent? Ninety per cent?

The NAS would be the ideal organisation to perform the training for ministers and civil servants because it actually knows what it’s doing. When it comes to the subject of autism, it has a whole fleet of ferries primed and ready to go.

The Labour MP Jess Phillips tweeted over the weekend that “there is so much disability discrimination in our transport system without the government leaning in and adding more themselves”. As a disabled person myself, I can testify to that. As the parent of a child on the autistic spectrum now wondering whether we did the right thing in getting that diagnosis, I hope Phillips follows through with her pledge to raise the issue with the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

You should never, ever have to question whether getting a diagnosis is the right thing to do, like I’m now doing. But once again, thanks to this wretched government…