Autistic Man Who Challenged Ruth Davidson on TV: Benefits Axe Left Me Feeling Suicidal

Bryce Goodall

Bryce Goodall, the autistic man from Fife whose intervention in the BBC General Election leaders’ debate was one of the most powerful moments of the night, has told The National how he contemplated suicide after having his benefits stopped.

Goodall, 27, was declared “fit for work” in an assessment last year, a decision that left him terrified. It was a decision the Department for Work and Pensions overturned earlier this year, but ever since then, Goodall has been fearful that civil servants are going to try to catch him out and take away his support.

“I feel like I’m under surveillance 24 hours a day, seven days a week” he told the panel of party political leaders on Sunday night.

Goodall’s contribution was over- shadowed by the furore surrounding nurse Claire Austin, who pushed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on NHS pay, telling the panel how she had to use food banks.False rumours on Twitter that Austin was married to a Tory councillor were repeated to media by the SNP’s Joanna Cherry, who publicly apologised when it emerged the claim was untrue.

Austin’s forceful intervention came right before Goodall took part in the debate, asking Tory leader Ruth Davidson why her Government had more benefit fraud inspectors than tax inspectors.

Speaking yesterday, Goodall told how his traumatic experience of the work capability assessment (WCA) left him in “meltdown”.

“When I went for this assessment everything was going fine,” he says. But inside the room he was asked all manner of personal question, and was repeatedly probed on suicide, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts.

Goodall said: “I later received a bombshell phone call from the DWP saying I failed my assessment and they just said to me that I didn’t score enough points. I scored zero points.”

“After that I completely melted down. I said I was going to kill myself that night because I couldn’t cope without my benefits.”

Thanks to support from family, Bryce was able to get back on his feet and eventually contacted Douglas Chapman, his local MP at the time, to ask for help. The MP’s office was able to work with the DWP and Goodall’s GP to get the true extent of his condition recognised by the benefit officials. Recent reports suggest 56 per cent of all people who appealed a WCA declaring them “fit for work”

between 2013-15, have had the original decision overturned.

In November last year, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities said Tory welfare changes were “grave and systematic violations” of disabled people’s rights.

It singled out the “functional” WCA, which, they said, seemed to “process” rather than listen to the disabled people being assessed for their ability to work.

Goodall says he didn’t think the assessors understood autism, and didn’t appreciate that some people with the condition have complex needs and require intensive support. He hopes society will one day be more aware of autism.

‘I’ve been a victim of bullying,” he said. “People don’t understand the condition.”

This, he claims, has hampered his ability to make friends. “My social skills are quite bad. I’m a bit of a loner. I’m a bit of a lonely person,” Goodall said. But, he added, Sunday night’s live TV appearance was all part of a plan to try to change that. He said: “It’s time for me to come out my shell. If people can accept me, if people can love me for who I am, then I would be loved and I would feel much better and my mental health would sky-rocket to a much better level. I would enjoy life.”

Charlene Tait, from Scottish Autism said the condition covered a “diverse spectrum” from those who need high levels of help to those with “more subtle difficulties”.

She added: “There is also a lack of awareness among many employers of the skills that autistic people can possess and as such, it is important to continue to improve wider understanding of the condition.”

Chapman, the SNP candidate for Dunfermline and West Fife, said Goodall wasn’t an isolated case: “I’m glad to say that through the dogged professionalism of my staff, we have tackled nearly 500 ESA [Employment and Support Allowance] and PIP [Personal Independence Payment] cases to date, winning many claims for our constituents.”

Meanwhile, commenting on the leaders’ debate and the row around the clash with Austin, Sturgeon stood by Cherry, saying the SNP candidate made an “honest mistake”.

“And she apologised for that,” Sturgeon told the BBC.

The SNP leader also criticised some of the press and social media reaction to Austin’s question. Pictures of the nurse on holiday in New York, and eating what one tabloid newspaper called “swanky meals” led to some people claiming the nurse did not need to use food banks.

The First Minister said: “In terms of the wider social media reaction, I don’t think it’s acceptable to make judgements about somebody’s background.”

Sturgeon added: “She raised an issue that is one of the biggest issues in this campaign – the level and value of real wages not just in the public sector but in the private sector.”