“Autism destroys families. . . . Autism is an individual tragedy. . . . These are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date — many of them will never use a toilet unassisted,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).
These remarks, delivered at Kennedy’s first press conference as HHS secretary, set off a firestorm of criticism. They reveal profound ignorance to the lived experiences of autistic people and to the science that informs our understanding of autism spectrum disorder. But Kennedy’s comments lamenting the “tragedy” of autism, the burden it places on families, and the failure of autistic people to contribute to society are not only insulting. They are dangerous.
Many people rushed to correct the record, sharing stories of autistic people doing the mundane — showing up for work, heading to baseball practice after school — and the remarkable. Missing from the conversation was an affirmation that autistic people are more than what they can do, that there is value in the life of every autistic person, no matter the support they need or what they produce.
Kennedy — a vaccine skeptic whose influence ushered in a wave of vaccine hesitancy, followed by the return of measles, a deadly childhood disease once eliminated in the United States — was a threat to public health before his appointment as HHS Secretary.
Now he’s been elevated to the most powerful public health office in the country. He has the full force of the HHS and National Institutes of Health behind him, and first on his agenda is identifying a cause — and presumably, a cure — for autism. Set against a…
Auteur: Molly Toth
