Former Welsh Minister, 72, reveals he’s been diagnosed as autistic

Martin Shipton

One of the most prominent Welsh Government ministers in the early years of what was the National Assembly has been diagnosed with autism at the age of 70.

Andrew Davies, who represented Swansea West from 1999 until 2011, had been the main organiser of Labour’s Yes campaign during the run-up to the devolution referendum in 1997.

When the Assembly came into being, he served in government for 10 years in a succession of roles as Chief Whip, Business Manager, Economy Minister, Social Justice Minister and Finance Minister.

Later he chaired Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board.

Having been diagnosed with autism two years ago, he has decided to speak about it publicly for the first time in an exclusive interview with Nation.Cymru.

Characteristics

Asked what had led to the diagnosis, Mr Davies said: “Over the years it had been in the back of my mind. But it was almost exactly two years ago when I was travelling with a former work colleague who mentioned he’d been on a committee with a consultant psychiatrist, who had mentioned that this former colleague had all the classic signs of autism. Knowing this person as I did for a long time, I could recognise some of the characteristics in myself.

“I read around the work of Simon Baron-Cohen, a professor of psychology at Cambridge University who is one of the world leaders in the study of autism. He’s devised an online questionnaire, which I took. I then read a lot more and had an assessment with a clinical psychologist early last year, who confirmed that I was indeed on the spectrum.”

Anxiety

Mr Davies said he had lots of symptoms that contributed to the diagnosis: “I’ve always had a problem with small talk with other people,” he said. “That’s one of the classic indications. I always struggled with being with other people. My wife, for example, could go into a room full of strangers and would think nothing of striking up a conversation. Like other people who are autistic, that is a trigger for anxiety for me. In parties – those sort of situations – I have trouble with small talk and knowing what to say.

“You might say how did I cope with public life. The thing is you have a role as a politician or a minister. You go into a meeting, people see you as a minister and you’re talking about business, not small talk.

“It’s almost like I didn’t know what the rules were. When I was in primary school, I always used to have the blankest look in the school yard – the object was not to get caught. I really struggled to understand the rules of social interaction and small talk.

“The other very common characteristic that I have is a very acute sense of hearing, where noises sound like someone dragging their fingernails down a blackboard. My next-door neighbours used to have Jack Russell terriers, and when they were barking I had to leave the house sometimes because it became so uncomfortable – it was like a visceral reaction.

“Certain smells, I have like a physical reaction. I can’t stand that.

“The third area – and this explains the length of emails I send – is that I study things in great depth, like lots of autistic people, while most people tend to have more of a passing interest.”

Anthony Hopkins

Asked whether it was common for people to be diagnosed with autism at such a late age, Mr Davies said: “I wouldn’t say it’s common, but it’s not unusual. Chris Packham, the naturalist and broadcaster – I think he was in his forties when he was diagnosed, I believe Anthony Hopkins has had a late diagnosis as well.

“It was in the Sixties and Seventies that autism was becoming increasingly recognised, and at that stage it was seen largely as a condition of young boys. Now they realise the whole concept of autism is much wider than young boys with linguistic or cognitive disabilities, which is why the concept of a spectrum is now accepted.

“It’s a recognition that some people’s brains are wired differently from other people. Increasingly it’s not seen as a disability, but more as a difference – that people like myself see the world and experience the world differently from other people.”

Asked whether the roots of his autism were in his childhood experiences or were somehow neurological, triggered by something in his brain, he said: “I don’t think there’s an accepted view of what causes autism or any other form of neurodivergence, other than there’s a very strong link in terms of family, so it is thought to be largely inherited.

“When I found out about my diagnosis, it was a huge shock, but more of a relief, because I could suddenly understand. I’d always thought there was something wrong – that I was weird or broken. A lot of things when I was younger I didn’t really enjoy. When you’re a teenager you desperately want to fit in with your peers, so I always thought there was something weird or broken about me. Now I can see it was just because I experienced the world in a different way to many others. I can also look at the rest of my family, and think one or both of my parents have been autistic. Other members of my family have ADHD.”

When it was put to him that his condition hadn’t prevented him from being a high achiever, Mr Davies said: “It makes the point really that autistic people, like anybody else, can be successful. It goes back to the idea that they can develop interests or passions in great depth. Chris Packham’s knowledge of the natural world, for example, is unparalleled.. So it hasn’t held him back. The same with Anthony Hopkins really. So it can be a challenge, but it can also be a real benefit as well.”

Camouflage

He said one reason why it was thought boys rather than girls were more prone to autism was because girls were more inclined to camouflage their behaviour: “Certainly many women who have been diagnosed late say that as girls, they copied other girls – they copied their behaviour, they copied their interests, they learnt how to get by,” he said. “But actually they were just covering, or camouflaging, their autism.”

Asked what the health service and society more generally could do to make the lives of people with autism better, Mr Davies said: “It would help hugely if there was greater awareness that autism is a spectrum, that it’s not a disability, and that assumptions people may make don’t always apply to people with autism. For example, group work is assumed to be the way forward for problem solving, but actually a lot of people manage on their own, and they’re better working on their own.

“But old habits die hard. There’s been a disagreement between Kemi Badenoch and Robert Buckland because, I would argue, Kemi Badenoch is seeing autism or neurodivergence in a very out-of-date way, and to his credit Robert Buckland challenged her and said there has been a positive embracing of autism and neurodivergence.”

Looking back at his time as a minister, which was long before he had been diagnosed, Mr Davies said he used to describe himself as being “peopled out”: “At the end of the day, and at weekends, I was exhausted,” he said, “I’d catch a train from Swansea to Cardiff at 7.30 in the morning, I’d go straight into meetings all day, there may be a conference, a reception in the evening and I’d be getting back to Swansea at 9 or 10. It wasn’t that I was physically tired, just mentally exhausted, And that’s one of the things that people with autism and ADHD point out.

“The other thing was that I thought of myself as a lone wolf in politics. I was never really aligned with any group or faction in the Labour group in the Assembly. And being a lone wolf also has weaknesses, because politics is a rough old game. Another thing was that as a minister I suffered from depression, as I did for most of my adult life. There’s a big correlation between autism, ADHD and mental ill health. Sadly there are also higher rates of suicide.

“So the reason I’m speaking out now is to raise awareness so people become more understanding about the needs of people with neurodivergence, ADHD and whatever.

“Schools are more aware than they were when I was a kid, but are universities aware of the varying needs of their students? I believe my own university, my alma mater in Swansea, is actually very good – they’ve got a special unit that is set up to help people with ADHD etc. But I’ve heard of other universities that don’t take the needs of their students into account and can be quite punitive. That attitude needs to change.”