Understanding ADHD: Symptoms, Causes, and Effective Treatments for All Ages

"Understanding ADHD: Symptoms, Causes, and Effective Treatments for All Ages"

UK’s NHS to Propose Screening Transgender Youth for Autism and ADHD Before Gender-Affirming Care

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is soon expected to propose a new plan requiring transgender youth to be screened for autism and ADHD before gaining access to gender-affirming medical care, officials confirmed to UK media this week.

Under a new NHS division called the “Children and Young People’s Gender Service,” transgender youth seeking medical support for gender dysphoria would first undergo screening for “neurodevelopmental conditions,” including autism and ADHD. This is according to a copy of the proposed plan reviewed by The Telegraph, although the document is not yet publicly available at the time of writing.

The Screening Process

According to the draft, clinicians would use a mixed battery of tests as part of a general “mental state examination.” This would involve asking children about mood, anxiety, emotional regulation, beliefs about body weight, possible physical symptoms, concentration, sleep and appetite, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts or behaviours.

If the screenings indicate the presence of a neurodevelopmental condition like autism, the draft recommends that a referral should be considered to paediatric neurodevelopmental services or paediatric ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) services. According to The Telegraph, those services would then determine whether the child can proceed with gender-affirming care or whether their dysphoric symptoms might instead be attributed to autism.

Background and Controversy

The new NHS proposal follows recommendations made in the “Cass Review,” a government-commissioned investigation into gender-affirming care that has faced criticism for its methods and conclusions, described by advocates and healthcare professionals as misleading and “fundamentally flawed.” A key focus of the review was determining whether undiagnosed autism might be a common factor among trans youth, particularly those assigned female at birth. The review suggested that this group may represent a rising number of young people showing “manifestations of bodily distress” such as eating disorders and dysmorphia.

Puberty blockers for transgender youth were "indefinitely banned" by the UK government after the review. Not a single new prescription has been approved in over a year—even for clinical trials. According to the UK-based advocacy group TransActual, wait times for appointments at gender identity clinics now range from eight months to over eight years.

Media Narrative and Misrepresentation

Although studies have found that autism is more commonly diagnosed in transgender people, some autistic advocates and researchers suggest this may stem from differences in social cognition. Dr. In 2023, John Strang, the director of the Gender and Autism Programme at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., told KQED that "people with autism may have different ways "feel less bound by social gender roles" in terms of processing social information. However, more antagonistic narratives have long been promoted by UK media publications like The Telegraph, Daily Mail, and The Times, suggesting that NHS gender clinic clinicians urged autistic kids to undergo medical transition. or that teachers and trans peers “groomed” or “coached” other autistic children into identifying as trans. This framing has been repeated by right-wing media in various nations, such as Canada's National Post, which claims that autistic children are being encouraged to transition because of their perceived vulnerability.

US Parallels and Dangerous Rhetoric

In the United States, similar narratives have emerged. Health and Human Services Secretary of the United States The Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely referred to puberty blockers as “repurposed castration drugs” and claimed that youth gender confusion stems from endocrine disruptors like atrazine in drinking water.

More recently, Kennedy made inflammatory remarks at a CDC briefing, calling autism a “preventable disease,” and claiming autistic people would “never pay taxes” or “write poetry.” He added that autism “destroys our greatest resource, our children.” Kennedy has also vowed to uncover the “causes of the autism epidemic” by September this year.