We Need to Talk About RFK Jr's Attack on the Autistic Community

The dangerous falsehoods espoused by the US "secretary of health" and their real-world negative effects

This is not a post I wanted to write. At all. I wish we lived in a world where anti-autism conspiracy theorists were not put in positions of power, but this is not the case. So, I chose to write about this, not because I want to, but because I care. Someone has to speak up about this, and the more people who do, the better.

What happened

On Wednesday, April 16th, 2025,

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

, the US “secretary of health”¹ held a press conference about autism in which he had some very… problematic things to say. The full transcript of his speech is here if you are interested in reading it. Numerous autistic people have expressed experiencing negative reactions to the press conference, from anger concerning the injustice of it all to fear regarding how these developments could adversely affect their lives.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

To be clear, I am Canadian, not American, but this is still a cause for concern to me. Things that happen in the USA tend to influence things that happen in Canada, and I worry that RFK’s harmful rhetoric will make it more socially acceptable across the Western world to label autism as a disease, and potentially, as something to be eradicated. And no, before anyone asks, I am not taking a stand for or against the current administration, but I do have serious qualms about the whole MAHA movement. With that being said, I will now get into the actual statements made at the press conference and why I regard these things to be harmful to autistic people.

Is autism actually increasing?

The first thing that RFK asserted in his speech is that “autism is increasing in prevalence at an alarming rate.” He cited the latest data from the CDC, which found that 1 in 31 eight-year-olds were autistic in 2022.² Rates of autism diagnosis have indeed increased; the study from 2020 put autism rates at 1 in 36.³ However, I do not believe this means that autism itself has increased.

The latest study on autism prevalence

Autistic people are not born with the word “autism” printed on their forehead. It is not always apparent that someone is autistic, and if no one suspects autism, that person is not going to get diagnosed! This means some people can go for decades of their life having no idea that they are, in fact, autistic, only to find out later in adulthood. And guess what? The longer autism has been recognized, the more research has been done, and the more research that has been done, the more we learn about autism, and the more we learn about autism, the more people get diagnosed! Even the study he referenced states, “Differences in prevalence over time and across sites can reflect differing practices in ASD evaluation and identification and availability and requirements that affect accessibility of services (e.g., meeting financial or diagnostic eligibility requirements).”⁴

The Increase in Autism Diagnosis Rates is a Good Thing

So, no, an increase in autism diagnosis rates ≠ an increase in autism itself. But why does RFK think this increase is “alarming?” I have previously argued that the increase in autism diagnosis rates is a good thing, something I still hold to be true, and I think usage of the word “alarming” to describe this phenomenon is, in itself, alarming.

What about severity?

After bemoaning the rise in people getting diagnosed as autistic, RFK shifts to saying, “And most cases now are severe. So about 25% of the kids who are diagnosed with autism are nonverbal, non-toilet trained, and have other stereotypical features, headbanging, tactile and light sensitivities, stimming, toe-locking, et cetera.”

Ooooookay… I have some issues with this. “Severe” is not a word that is used for autism anymore because autism is a complex condition that looks different for different people, and sorting autistic people into buckets of “mild,” “moderate,” and “severe” is harmful, not helpful. Additionally, the term “nonspeaking” is preferred over the usage of the word “nonverbal,” as the latter means “without words,” which is inaccurate; nonspeaking people can still use words to communicate in a written format. But are a quarter of autistic children nonspeaking?

It seems like the study RFK had in mind when making this statement is one from 2018 titled “Communication interventions for autism spectrum disorder in minimally verbal children," which reads, “about 25% to 30% of children with ASD either fail to develop functional language or are minimally verbal,” which they define as speaking less than thirty words.⁵ Then again, estimates vary, and other studies point to this number being lower. A 2024 study found that out of the parents of 1 368 American children, only 10.1% classified their child’s autism as “severe.”⁶ Whatever the exact numbers are, the data is clear that the majority of autistic people can speak and use the toilet unassisted.

I also found the fact that he included “tactile and light sensitivities” and “stimming” as signs of “severe cases” highly inaccurate, because ALL autistic people have sensory sensitivities and practice stimming. They are literally in the diagnostic criteria! The following quote is taken from the DSM-5 on Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple motor stereotypies, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases)…

Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment (e.g., apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement).⁷

I am not someone who would be considered “a severe case” according to RFK, but I fit the above descriptions! And by the way, everyone, even neurotypicals, stim sometimes. Stimming is just some type of repetitive movement and can be as small as twirling hair or bouncing one’s leg up and down. So, his claims here are, once again, completely bogus.

Is autism an epidemic?

RFK then goes to talk about “epidemic denial,” obviously about autism being an “epidemic.” I have already responded to the claim that autism is an “epidemic” by writing,

…[T]here is no such thing as an “autism epidemic.” The Oxford Dictionary of English defines “epidemic” as “a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.”³ Simply put, autism cannot be an epidemic because it is neither a disease nor infectious. Autism is a condition, a disorder, a disability, and is not spread by a virus or any microorganism.⁸

The Alarming Presence of Anti-Autism Ableism in the Conservative Movement

He also mentioned two studies, from 1970 and 1987, that found a significantly lower prevalence of autism than is observed today, saying,

If you accept the epidemic denier’s narrative, you have to believe that researchers in North Dakota missed 98.8% of the children with autism, and thousands of profoundly disabled children were somehow invisible to doctors, teachers, parents, and even their own study. The same researchers who followed the original cohort for 12 years to double-check their number, they went back in 2000 and found that they had missed exactly one child.

The thing is, diagnostic labels and criteria have changed since then! The DSM-5 in 2013 combined four diagnoses (autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified) that were previously separate under Autism Spectrum Disorder. So, of course, the studies from several decades ago are going to show a much lower prevalence of autism because the definition of autism was much narrower then than it is now!

And by the way, it is very easy for autistic people to get missed. Many of us, while we still require support, are not “profoundly disabled.” I went for the first seventeen years of my life not knowing that I am autistic, and for lots of other people, this number is much larger. Autistic people with an average or above average IQ, those who mask well, and females are less likely to receive a diagnosis because they do not fit the autism stereotype. So yes, Mr. Kennedy dude, a heck of a lot of autistic children were missed in that study. And no, I am not saying that doctors from the past were stupid. I am simply saying that we have more information, research, and resources on autism now than we did then.

But there is evidence for this “epidemic!”

RFK’s next point is to bring up a study that ran from 1959 to 1965 with researchers from fourteen hospitals that tracked 30 000 autistic children from birth to age eight and only found fourteen cases, or 4.7 per 10 000. He said, “Autism, a condition characterized by profound impairments in social communication and behaviour, would have stood out like a neon sign.” Once again, I must refer readers to my earlier point about the expansion of the diagnosis of autism. If I were included in this group of children, I would not be one of the fourteen cases because Asperger syndrome, the previous diagnosis for high-IQ autistic people, was not considered a form of autism at that time! And no, not all autistic people stand out like neon signs. Just saying.

Photo by Pablo Gentile on Unsplash

He later said, “Only a very, very small portion of it can be charged a better recognition or better diagnostic criteria.” Ummmm… what planet do you live on? This statement is truly so completely out of touch with reality, and of course, he failed to give any evidence to back it up.

A preventable disease? Environmental exposure?

RFK continued by calling autism “a preventable disease” caused by “environmental exposure,” saying, “It has to be. Genes do not cause epidemics.” Okay… I am trying to stay calm right now, but how many times do I have to say “AUTISM IS NOT A DISEASE OR AN EPIDEMIC” before people get the message? Autism is a disability, a developmental disorder, a neurological condition, not any form of sickness. Someone can be autistic and still be a very healthy individual.

Obviously, I agree that genes do not cause epidemics, but autism is NOT an epidemic, and numerous credible studies with large sample sizes have concluded that there is a large genetic component to autism. This is why autism appears to run in families—because it does! Genetics do not account for the full picture, and environmental factors do play a role in autism, but to dismiss genetic research into autism as a “dead end” just because it does not line up with the narrative you are trying to spin is incredibly dishonest.

Quoting myself again,

There is an abundance of evidence suggesting a genetic connection; autism has even been called “one of the most heritable of all neuropsychiatric disorders.”⁴ One way to test this theory is through studies that compare the probability of autism occurring in both identical twins (who share 100% of their DNA) and fraternal twins (who share 50% of their DNA). In cases where [at least] one twin is autistic, there is an 88% chance of the other twin being autistic if they are identical and a 31% chance if they are fraternal.⁵⁹

If autism is not at all genetic, what could explain this gap in the chances of autism between identical and fraternal twins? Surely if it were purely environmental, there would be no such gap.

Make ableism cool again… or something

The last portion of RFK’s speech was spent going on an ableist tirade against autistic people. In his words,

This is an individual tragedy as well. Autism destroys families. More importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which are our children. These are children 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 were two 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…

If I were a swearing person, I would be spewing profanities out of my mouth like there is no tomorrow, because what on earth even is this? “Autism destroys families.” Okay, so my very existence is destroying my family? Well, that makes me feel just great about myself. Does he not see how damaging this kind of language is? He is essentially saying that the world would be better off if every autistic person jumped off a bridge.

Photo by Alex Azabache on Unsplash

He clearly does not understand what it is like to grow up as an undiagnosed autistic person. For so long, I knew I was different somehow! I felt like the odd one out in my family and thought things would be better if only I were more like my (neurotypical) sister. In my mind, I was a failure of a person, and I honestly thought that the lives of my parents and the world in general would be better if I had never been born. Sometimes I still do. Just typing this out is almost making me teary-eyed. Why is the suicide rate much higher for autistic people than for non-autistic ones? It is in part due to autistic people feeling like they make everything worse. Feeling like a burden on everyone around them. Feeling like they are destroying their own families simply by existing. And because of all that, feeling like the best thing they can do for the world is to kill themselves because it is selfish to keep living. THIS is what it is like. And when he goes around saying these things, what do you think that does to autistic people?

Thoughts From My Unknowingly Autistic Younger Self

Back to his claim that autism makes children suffer, I have to say no. People like him make autistic children suffer. Autistic people can live happy, healthy, and fulfilling lives if they are provided with the resources and support they require. Plus, autistic people are born that way! Autism is not something one contracts at the age of two because of environmental factors; it is a lifelong condition. Yes, some autistic children have a period of regression around that age, but they were always autistic, because autism presents in different ways over time!

Finally, he concluded by listing a bunch of things that autistic people are apparently incapable of doing, including paying taxes, holding a job, playing baseball, writing a poem, going on a date, and, in some cases, using a toilet unassisted. Yeah, what now? I pay taxes. I have a job that I have held for nearly two years. Plus, a 2017 study of 254 autistic adults found that 61.42% of them were employed, so I am certainly not the only one!¹⁰ I have technically played baseball before, but I am incredibly bad at it, though. Why is “playing baseball” some sort of important thing that everyone should do anyway? And by the way, one of my favourite books with autistic rep features an autistic protagonist, who, big shocker, plays baseball!¹¹ As for poetry, I have written some of that too, including on this very Substack publication.

Why are you so Quiet?

Well, what about dating? I have never been on a date, but guess what? I do not want to. Aromantic people like myself exist, and holding up dating as some sort of important thing that everyone should do only reinforces allonormativity. Research has shown that there is a higher percentage of asexuality and aromanticism among autistic people than in the general population, with one 2021 study finding that 5.1% of autistic people in their sample of autistic adults identified as asexual.¹² So, not all autistic people even care about dating, and there is nothing wrong with being asexual and/or aromantic.

But there are plenty of autistic people who have been on dates and even gotten married, so to say that autistic people will “never go out on a date” is flat-out wrong. Autistic people can have healthy, long-term romantic relationships and raise children of their own. And there are several romance books that feature an autistic protagonist. So, clearly, autistic people are capable of doing many more things than RFK thinks we can.

His point about “we are doing this to our children,” is once again false. Autism is natural, not preventable. As a Christian, I believe God made autistic people to be autistic, just like he made all other kinds of people unique in certain ways. So, please stop looking for a cause or a cure.

But where are all the older autistic people?

The final point I want to respond to here is regarding the “secretary of health’s” statements questioning why he never sees any autistic people his age walking in the mall.

If the epidemic is an artifact, a better diagnostic criteria or better recognition, then why are we not seeing it in older people? Why is this only happening in young people? I asked Walter before we came out here, I said, have you ever seen anybody our age, I’m 71 years old, with full-blown autism, headbanging, non-verbal, non-toilet trained, stimming, toe walking, these other stereotypical features. Where are these people walking around the mall? You can’t find them. They’re not in homes. There are no homes for them. There are no institutions for them. Why are we seeing them on the street? Anybody can look around and see that this is a canard.

He asked, “why are we not seeing [autism] in older people?” Now, I do not know where this man has been and why he seems so ignorant of the very subject he is supposedly researching, but there has been an explosion of autistic adults getting diagnosed in recent years! What about

Morgan Harper Nichols

, an artist and poet who was diagnosed autistic at age 31? What about

Hazel Appleyard

,

Ellin Park

,

Christina Buttons

,

Lamar Hardwick (D.Min.)

,

Hannah Baker

,

Madeleine Grace

,

Sunita

,

Neuro Poppins

,

Rebecca D. Martin

, and

Sophie Spital

, all of whom are late-diagnosed (or self-diagnosed) autistic adults? What about the countless late-diagnosed autistic YouTubers like Orion Kelly, Mom on the Spectrum, Olivia Hops, and Yo Samdy Sam who started making videos to share their stories? Yeah, I wonder, where are all the autistic adults?

As far as why there are no older headbanging autistic people who are nonspeaking walking around the mall, I think this is pretty self-explanatory. Malls are sensory hell for autistic people; the lights are too bright, the sounds too loud, and the people too unpredictable. I loathe going to the mall for these very reasons, and I am sure it would be worse for those whose autism presents in an obvious and stereotypical way, as they would attract negative attention from other shoppers. Additionally, I do not know why RFK is so attached to the idea of autistic people being a bunch of idiots who bang their heads into everything and are incapable of going to the bathroom by themselves, because this is a very small minority of our community! I have never met anyone like that, regardless of age.

Photo by Kleomenis Spyroglou on Unsplash

Autistic adults most definitely do exist. They were misdiagnosed with other conditions, put in mental institutions, called slurs, or went completely under the radar, masking through life. Autism is not a disease, an epidemic, or anything bad. This is why I must call the MAHA movement out for what it is: eugenics. They want to eradicate autism, to basically get rid of all autistic people because we cost too much money, or something. MAHA is not really about health. It is a deceptive slogan hiding a nefarious agenda that discriminates against disabled people, and more people need to speak up about this.

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Thank you all for reading, and please share this article if you think it is important. Like I said at the beginning, I did not want to write this, but I believe someone has to speak out. I initially had another post scheduled for today, but decided to put this one out on the Wednesday after completing it instead of waiting a month or so. I promise next week’s post will be more positive than this one!

1. Yes, I will continue to put “secretary of health” in quotation marks when referring to this man because he is not qualified to hold such a position. His career has been in law and politics, not healthcare, and he is either completely misinformed or downright deceptive regarding various health-related subjects.

2. Shaw KA, Williams S, Patrick ME, et al. Prevalence and Early Identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 4 and 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 16 Sites, United States, 2022. MMWR Surveill Summ 2025;74(No. SS-2):1–22. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss7402a1.

3. Maenner MJ, Warren Z, Williams AR, et al. “Prevalence and Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2020.” MMWR Surveill Summ 2023;72(No. SS-2):1–14. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss7202a1.

4. Shaw KA, Williams S, Patrick ME, et al. Prevalence and Early Identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 4 and 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 16 Sites, United States, 2022. MMWR Surveill Summ 2025;74(No. SS-2):1–22. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss7402a1.

5. Brignell A, Chenausky KV, Song H, Zhu J, Suo C, Morgan AT. Communication interventions for autism spectrum disorder in minimally verbal children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2018, Issue 11. Art. No.: CD012324. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012324.pub2. Accessed 24 April 2025.

6. Carbone PS, Stipelman CH, Villalobos ME, Ellzey A, Stuart A, Stoddard GJ, Campbell K. A Comparison of Parent-Reported Severe Autism With Mild/Moderate Autism Among US Children. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2024 Sep-Oct 01;45(5):e422-e430. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000001306. Epub 2024 Aug 13. PMID: 39413304.

7. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.), 2013.

8. Schoenberger, Rachel. “The Alarming Presence of Anti-Autism Ableism in the Conservative Movement,” 2024. https://rachelschoenberger.substack.com/p/the-alarming-presence-of-anti-autism.

9. Ibid.

10. Ohl A, Grice Sheff M, Small S, Nguyen J, Paskor K, Zanjirian A. Predictors of employment status among adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Work. 2017;56(2):345-355. doi: 10.3233/WOR-172492. PMID: 28211841.

11. This book is Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! by Sarah Kapit. A great middle-grade contemporary epistolary novel!

12. Ronis ST, Byers ES, Brotto LA, Nichols S. Beyond the Label: Asexual Identity Among Individuals on the High-Functioning Autism Spectrum. Arch Sex Behav. 2021 Nov;50(8):3831-3842. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-01969-y. Epub 2021 Oct 18. PMID: 34661809.