The Health and Human Services secretary suggested that autistic children would never play baseball, date or pay taxes, enraging those in the community.
By Praveena Somasundaram, The Washington PostAutistic people and their loved ones have swiftly and publicly rejected statements by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official, that people with autism will never play baseball, date, pay taxes or have a job.
They say the Health and Human Services secretary’s comments Wednesday, during his first official news conference, misstate the capabilities of many people with autism - and they flooded social media with counterexamples. On X, Facebook and TikTok, autistic people detailed the jobs they hold and how many years they’d paid taxes. Parents posted photos of their autistic children in their baseball uniforms. Family members of severely disabled autistic children also pushed back, saying Kennedy was disparaging children who need more support. Many noted that the effects of autism can vary dramatically from person to person - as denoted by the condition’s official name, “autism spectrum disorder.” Kennedy’s remarks were also a return to a negative, ableist view that people in the community have worked to dispel, said Zoe Gross, director of advocacy for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. “In so many ways, RFK Jr. seems determined to drag us back many years, many decades, and his rhetoric is just another example of that,” said Gross, who is autistic. Actress Holly Robinson Peete, whose 27-year-old son R.J. is autistic, said on X that he gave their family “purpose and unity … oh, and he pays taxes.” She also urged the public to focus on “diagnosis, acceptance and helping families cope,” rather than on what a particular autistic person can or cannot do. Spokespeople for HHS and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.Autism is a spectrum of disorders that inhibits language and communication and affects behavior, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though scientists are still working to answer some questions about autism, research suggests it is caused by a mix of genetics and environmental factors before birth, such as exposure to chemicals during pregnancy. Just before making the inflammatory comments, Kennedy mischaracterized autism as a “preventable disease.” He then spoke about children many of whom he claimed “were fully functional and regressed because of some environmental exposure into autism when they’re 2 years old.” “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,” Kennedy said. “Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted. And we have to recognize we are doing this to our children, and we need to put an end to it.”His comments put him at odds with a White House proclamation for World Autism Awareness Day on April 2 that said, “Despite challenges, Americans with ASD have made, and will continue to make outstanding contributions for our country and the world.” The proclamation noted President Donald Trump’s creation of the “Make America Healthy Again” commission, which is chaired by Kennedy, a leading vaccine skeptic who has repeatedly linked vaccines to autism.Peter Hotez, a physician and vaccine scientist, made a post Thursday morning about his daughter, Rachel, who he said “works everyday, pays taxes, has friends, loves going to the movies, and listens to lousy music.” HHS, Hotez wrote in the post, “has lost all of its humanity, compassion, and intellectual curiosity.” In an interview later Thursday, Hotez described Kennedy’s remarks as offensive and dismissive of the lives autistic people can, and do, lead. “To me, it almost had kind of a eugenics feel to it, as though they had no usefulness in society and therefore could be discarded,” he said. Posts like Hotez’s garnered hundreds of thousands of views, likes and shares. Countering Kennedy’s remarks in this rapid and public way, Gross said, helps refute “that narrative of fear and stigma.” “Speaking out, hopefully that can help combat what they’re hearing from people that they’ve been told to trust, like leaders in government,” she said.Emily May, who has a daughter with “profound” autism and writes an online newsletter about parenting and other issues, posted on X: “this appears to be a bit of a Rorschach test because why would i find it insulting that rfk jr. is describing my family’s lived experience?” She added in a subsequent post: “he is not saying they are disposable, he’s saying they are suffering.” Regardless of what level of support autistic people may need, implying that “if you’ll never do these things, you can never have a good life” is upsetting and distressing for the community, said Gross, the ASAN director of advocacy. “It’s equally important to say he was wrong, and autistic people do all those things that he said we can’t do, as it is to say people who don’t do any of those things are still valuable human beings,” she said.
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