Debunking the Trump Administration’s Anti-Autism Ableism

I’m autistic, not a tragedy—and I’m done listening to fear-mongering from people who should know better, especially when they’re running the government.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a speech on April 16 in which he made many false assertions about autism.

The backlash was swift and immediate: Many organizations, autistic advocates, and even some non-autistic public figures like Ms. Rachel have publicly spoken out against Kennedy’s statements. This prompted Kennedy to do a circuit of interviews, in which he quadrupled down on his ableist fear-mongering.

Anti-autism ableism and dis- and misinformation is harmful. Below, I debunk some of the common myths about autism I’ve heard come out of Kennedy’s mouth, one by one.

Myth #1: Autism Is Growing at an Alarming Rate

During his speech, Kennedy reported the “alarming” rate in which autism cases were appearing in children. 

“The ASD prevalence rate in 8-year-olds is now one in 31,” said the HHS secretary. “About 25 percent of the kids who are diagnosed with autism are nonverbal, non-toilet trained, and have other stereotypical features, [such as] head banging, tactile and light sensitivities, stimming, toe walking, etc.”

Cases of autism in children are rising simply because we know more about it. There is a wider range of behaviors attributed to autism now and research is more comprehensive, leading to more people being diagnosed and receiving help.

Additionally, there is no such thing as “full-blown autism.” What Kennedy is referring to is high-support needs (HSN) autism, also known as Level 3 Autism. Only 10 to 27 percent of autistic people fall into this group, though many do not have the limitations Kennedy mentioned.

“Even among those with an intellectual disability, there’s huge variability,” David Mandell, University of Pennsylvania psychiatry professor and director of the Penn Center for Mental Health, told PolitiFact. “People with Down’s Syndrome have an intellectual disability, but often are quite capable and can do all the things RFK points to.”

Kennedy referred to this rise in autism rates as “part of an unrelenting upward trend” and an “epidemic” multiple times throughout the speech.

In a later interview with Sean Hannity, Kennedy also claimed that he’s never seen an adult with “full-blown autism.” In the same sentence, he attempted to clarify that though he’s met “people with Asperger’s and, on the spectrum who are my age,” he’s never met “someone with full-blown autism.” 

According to the HHS Secretary, “full-blown autism” means “nonverbal, non-toilet trained” and that “you don’t see these people walking around a mall, because they don’t exist at our age.”

Side note: Seriously? What is it with these ableist neurotypicals and their obsession with autistic people’s bathroom habits? Can autistic people just take a shit in peace?

Autistic people to RFK Jr.:

Myth #2: Autism Is Expensive to Treat

The 71-year-old prominent anti-vaccine activist also briefly touched on the rising costs of autism treatments in America. “The cost of treating autism in this country by 2035 so within 10 years, will be a trillion dollars a year. This is added to already astronomical healthcare costs.” 

While it is true that the average cost for therapies for autistic people is high, and is expected to increase over time, it is worth noting that autism itself is not the reason why. The reason is lack of affordable or free healthcare and the limited amount of funds provided to actually help autistic people, especially for when those autistic children grow up into autistic adults. 

Healthcare in the U.S. is in general vastly more expensive than in peer countries. In 2021, Americans spent almost double the amount per person on inpatient and outpatient care, despite having shorter hospital stays and fewer physician visits than their non-American counterparts.

Autistic content creator @LindsayMakesVideos posted a video on TikTok in February 2022 that sums up this point best:

“Do you have any idea how many people are dying to provide a safe space for these kids to thrive, but they can’t? [That is] because they can’t get funding. And what little they get must serve the interest of turning these kids into healthy producers for the economy.”

Myth #3: Autism “Destroys Families” and Is Caused by Avoidable “Environmental Exposure”

Kennedy ended his speech talking about the “individual tragedy” that is autism.

“Autism destroys families,” Kennedy claims. “These are children who should not be, who should not be suffering like this. These are kids who, many of them were fully functional and regressed because of some environmental exposure into autism when they’re 2 years old. And 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. And we have to recognize we are doing this to our children, and we need to put an end to it.”

First, and most obviously, autism does not “destroy” families. It’s important to remember that disability itself does not create unhappiness, but rather a system that restricts access to resources and opportunities for people with disabilities and their families.

Second, there is no “environmental exposures” that cause autism in any way (nor do vaccines cause autism for that matter). Autism is largely genetic: According to UCLA Medical School, “a majority (around 80%) of autism cases can be linked to inherited genetic mutations. The remaining cases likely stem from non-inherited mutations.”

Autism doesn’t start at 2 years old—it starts when we are born. I was born autistic.

Myth #4: Autism Is “Only Happening in Children”

Two days after giving that speech, Kennedy went on Fox News and essentially doubled down on his claims about autism, and then some.