4/21/25 - 3 takes on RFK Jr. and autism
We are at the moment also locked in a room with one man's personal obsessions.
Everyone has something to say about RFK Jr.'s remarks and plans on autism last week. It's good that what he's trying to do is getting a lot of attention from disability communities. But it's made it hard to choose which articles to share. Here are three that are probably good to start with.
Kennedy Claimed Autism ‘Destroys’ Lives. Autistic People Disagree.
Maggie Astor, Azeen Ghorayshi, Dani Blum, New York Times - April 18, 2025
Source: Julia Bascom's Facebook page
"Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s remarks this week that autism “destroys” children have prompted outrage among many autistic people, who said they had done things Mr. Kennedy claimed were impossible, like hold a job, write a poem, play baseball and go on dates. They added that the lives of people who did need help performing daily activities were still worthy of respect."
As Julia notes in sharing this New York Times piece, the reporters do a great job of including a lot of disabled people's voices. That's important in an article about autism – the kind of thing that should be obvious in any content about any disability, but is often overlooked, or outright ignored.
Leading Autism Organizations Release Joint Statement on Upholding Scientific Integrity and Supporting the Autism Community
Autistic Self Advocacy Network - April 17, 2025
"We are deeply concerned by growing public rhetoric and policy decisions that challenge these shared principles. Claims that Autism is “preventable” is not supported by scientific consensus and perpetuate stigma. Language framing Autism as a “chronic disease,” a “childhood disease” or “epidemic” distorts public understanding and undermines respect for Autistic people."
The most important takeaway here is that several autism organizations came together to draft this statement, built around very easily communicated and understood principles about autism. And these are organizations that haven't always worked together, and have for substantive reasons often publicly opposed each other. It could be a helpful model for other diverse disability organizations that need to work and sometimes speak together now more than ever.
RFK Jr.'s Obsession With Autism Is A 'Dangerous' Form Of Ableism. Here's Why.
Brittany Wong, Huffington Post - April 17, 2025
"The reality is, autism diagnosis plays out differently for different people: Many autistic kids grow up to form meaningful relationships (watch the joyous reality show “Love on the Spectrum” for proof of that), hold stable jobs, produce art and poetry, and otherwise live deeply fulfilling lives, said Mykayla Whitmarsh, an autistic woman in Vancouver who works as a coach for neurodiverse people ... Others with autism do need assistance with certain aspects of their lives ― some may not be able to hold down a job the way a neurotypical person can, as Kennedy suggested ― but that doesn’t make their lives the tragedy he seems intent on portraying them as. They live deeply fulfilling lives, too."
There's an important discussion here about how portraying autism as a disease or epidemic that brings only suffering and wrecked lives can pave the way to more drastic ideologies like eugenics. What drew me first to this article though is use of the word "obsession" in the title. While RFK Jr.'s statements and actions reflect some people's real views and policy preferences, from him in particular they sound like products of a few very specific fixations he seems to have, such as:
- That environmental toxins are behind a huge number of medical and social problems – probably an outgrowth of his earlier work advocating for cleanup of industrial pollution.
- Prevention – the idea that modern medicine knowingly pushes profitable treatments and neglects seemingly inexpensive and more effective "health lifestyles."
Both of these ideas have some truth to them. But like most grand, unified theories, they don't fit every situation or population. They can't explain or solve everything. And opposing them or approaching them critically doesn't mean there's a conspiracy of silence about them. But if that's the way RFK Jr. thinks, we are dealing with more than an ideological difference or political challenge. We are at the moment also locked in a room with one man's personal obsessions.
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