A diagnosis is not absolution
'Neurodiversity' is not a get-out-of-jail-free card
I was never a fan of the #MeToo movement. The social media pile-ons it prompted, together with the blurring of everything from bad behaviour and banter to sexual assault and even rape, left little room for due process. The push for women to make public declarations of their victimhood seemed to be the opposite of empowering. So when allegations against Gregg Wallace first surfaced last December, my initial response was to roll my eyes.
Wallace is accused of boorish and inappropriate behaviour. The accusations against him are cringeworthy and embarrassing to read. But they are not allegations of rape or serious sexual assault. The most heinous allegation is that Wallace touched women inappropriately, fully clothed and in a television studio, and exposed himself (presumably, not fully clothed). He should have been taken to one side long ago and told, in no uncertain terms, that he had to change his ways. And when he didn’t, he should have been out of a job.
Just such a warning seems to have been delivered in 2019, but it was clearly never acted upon. This points to a truth that Wallace himself is aware of: the BBC - and plenty of viewers - liked the ‘cheeky chappie’, innuendo-ready, irreverent persona Wallace cultivated. It seems that titillation and viewing stats made it worth not telling a celeb to put a sock in it. (Rather than on it. Sorry….)
This should have been the end of the Gregg Wallace saga. Man allegedly behaves inappropriately. Gets called out. We argue the toss about whether the punishment fits the crime. End of story.
But with this latest round of news coverage about Wallace, I’m all out of sympathy. It’s not the fact that a further 50 women have, apparently, come forward with accusations against the MasterChef presenter - it’s his snivelling defence of his actions that has got my back up.
Ahead of the publication of an investigation into his behaviour, Wallace took to Instagram and released a statement. Rather than issuing a robust denial or apologising profusely to the women he is alleged to have harassed, Wallace said he has 'neurodiversity, now formally diagnosed as autism'. This is a truly pathetic attempt to excuse his inappropriate behaviour.
The word ‘neurodivergent’ is a recent addition to our vocabulary. This made-up word is meant to imply brain functions and processes that are not ‘typical’. But what is a ‘normal’ way to think and process information? If thinking is an individual, private matter, then we may all think a little differently from one another. And if we are all neurodivergent, then the term is rendered meaningless. What matters in public life is less how we arrive at thoughts and opinions and more how we act on them. Fortunately for me, and I suspect many other people too, having wicked thoughts is not (yet) a crime.
Wallace now claims to have been recently diagnosed with autism. He joins a large and growing community. A 2021 study found an astonishing 787 per cent increase in the number of autism diagnoses between 1998 and 2018 in the UK. (Yes, that’s SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SEVEN PER CENT.) What lies behind this is surely an ever-expanding definition of autism. By locating autism as being on a ‘spectrum’ and including within it conditions once considered separately, such as Asperger’s syndrome, more and more people display symptoms that now fall under the autism label. This means that autism is no longer a debilitating condition that severely impacts a person’s life chances, but a personality type. Nowadays, being ‘autistic’ often means no more than being a bit socially awkward. Add to this the rise in online ‘fun’ quizzes enabling people to self-diagnose and the big surprise is that there is anyone who does not consider themselves to have autism. High-functioning journalists proudly describe their path to diagnosis and self-revelation, while those suffering from a truly disabling condition struggle to get help of any kind.
By linking his sexually inappropriate behaviour to his recent autism diagnosis, Wallace shamelessly attempts to abdicate responsibility for his actions. Effectively, what Wallace wants us to believe is that it wasn’t him, it was his dodgy brain that made him do it. He’s now been backed up by celebrity chums who claim his autism causes sensory issues that mean he can’t wear underpants. Please. Even if true, this hardly explains the sock-on-penis dressing room door performance. This is as insulting to the women Wallace offended as it is to people with a longstanding autism diagnosis who do not engage in sexually inappropriate behaviour. Wallace has, rightly, been roundly criticised by charities and groups that work with people with autism for his crass exercise in self-justification.
But, in many respects, Wallace is simply tapping into the current zeitgeist. (Ironically, something people with ‘neurodiversity’ might struggle to do…) ‘Neurodiversity’, of one form or another, is now the go-to explanation as to why children cannot read, add-up or sit still. It is not teachers or parents who are to blame - and obviously not children themselves - but their differently wired brains. ‘Mental health problems’ excuse failure to revise for exams, sustain a relationship, get and keep a job and stay on the right side of the law. For a tiny minority of people, this may well be the case. But today, everyone is made constantly aware that they might have a mental health condition and those with a diagnosis are immediately relieved from assuming moral responsibility for their own lives. This leads to a debilitating vicious circle. The less we expect from people, the less their sense of their capacity to act on the world and shape the direction of their own life.
In his Instagram statement, Wallace claims that colleagues knew about his ‘disability’ but did nothing to investigate or protect him from a ‘dangerous environment’. But what exactly did he want protecting from? Women? Himself?
I have no idea what went on between Gregg Wallace and the women he encountered in various television studios. But I know I would have a lot more respect for the man if he took responsibility for his actions and either denied the accusations made against him or ‘fessed up and apologised. We don’t have a mental health crisis but a sick society that validates people’s refusal to be accountable for their own actions.
Absolutely true! Claiming you are something that erodes responsibility for your actions is problematic and dangerous.
Perfectly summarised.
For a long time, even people with the various versions of autism such as Asperger's Syndrome have been using it for preferential treatment. Classrooms and offices have been arranged round people who have violent fits when things annoy them. And even those who have been diagnosed, and clearly have, some form of autism can turn it on and off to suit themselves. So, perhaps it was inevitable that it would eventually be spread amongst other people, who want excuses and tickets to misbehave. And, of course, the ever-opening doors to success.
But it also satisfies other needs: to categorise and be categorised; and to be something without actually doing something. 'I'm ADHD. You?' 'Asperger's.'
Doing a quick check of famous people with autism, I found Albert Einstein and Tim Burton. Neither has been diagnosed, but 'exhibits traits'. That is at the centre of all this. If you are shy, don't like crowds, like the safety of routines, that is enough for a diagnosis. It's generally annoying, but relatively harmless. But 'exhibits traits' is also the political basis on which many millions of Chinese and Russian people were imprisoned, tortured, and even killed.