In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.
A number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.
Another leading anti-vaxxer is presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust. Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.
In light of the Trump administration's dishonesty and threats to privacy, plans for an autism registry are most disturbing. Because Trump and RFK Jr. have a long history of lying about autism, we have to assume bad faith.
While the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) denies it’s a registry, the agency did confirm a sweeping database of autistic people will power a $50m study on autism. The health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, said last week that he plans to announce results from the study within months.
A petition against the registry gained thousands of signatures in a single day, jumping from 2,500 to nearly 35,000 signatures within 24 hours.
“I’m a quiet person who likes to just be in the background,” said first-time petition creator Ryan Smith, a parent of two neurodiverse children living in Idaho. He also didn’t want to make himself a target.
“But I feel really, really, really strongly about this, and I have to speak up for my kids who can’t speak for themselves.”
The petition gathered nearly 50,000 names before declaring victory when HHS seemed to walk back on the plan.
“We are not creating an autism registry,” an HHS spokesperson said.
But the difference seems to be in the name. The agency is creating a “real-world data platform” to “link existing datasets” for the research into causes of and treatments for autism, the spokesperson confirmed.
“They’re saying it’s not an autism registry, but it sounds like they kind of just changed the name of it,” said Amy Marschall, an autistic psychologist who has long objected to mandatory autism registries.
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“And at worst, I worry that we’re on a slippery slope to eugenics,” Smith said. “My mind immediately goes to history and things that happened in Nazi Germany. That’s extreme, but it feels like a possibility.” Disabled people were the first to be targeted then, he pointed out.
Opponents also wonder about privacy and security measures, which have not been detailed by health agencies, and how individuals’ information could be used against them.
“Are you going to use this as an excuse to take away my rights, to hold me against my will, to prevent me from having children, to take away my right to manage my own finances?” Marschall asked.
