Autism and the Amish

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 top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

Since President Trump took office in 2025, the U.S. has recorded more confirmed measles cases than in the previous 20 years combined.

Carmen Paun at POLITICO:

This time, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and the Lancaster County coroner agree: An infant died of measles in the state, the first confirmed death in 35 years.

Shapiro cited the coroner’s confirmation Friday on X and took another jab at Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said last week the Democrat’s staff might have fabricated the death to make Kennedy look bad.

“Instead of listening to the real doctors and public health experts, RFK chose to sow doubt, play politics, direct the CDC not to acknowledge these deaths, and even accuse me of fabricating these tragedies,” Shapiro posted on the social media platform.

The county coroner, Stephen Diamantoni, has previously said he disagreed with Shapiro about the cause of death of another newborn, an Amish boy who died soon after birth last month. Diamantoni said the baby, who had measles, died of a ruptured spleen and that he did not believe measles contributed.

Shapiro and his health department said last week that two Pennsylvanians had died of “measles-associated” causes.

Diamantoni said earlier Friday a 6-week-old girl from the county’s Amish community died of measles at home last month. The baby had microcephaly, a condition that usually leads to death by six months of age, but measles was the cause of death, Diamantoni said, according to local media reports.

When contacted by POLITICO, Pennsylvania’s health department did not directly say the baby is the second measles-associated death it reported last week, but Press Secretary Neil Ruhland reaffirmed there were two deaths in an email statement. “The Lancaster County Coroner has now publicly confirmed a second infant death involving measles,” Ruhland said.

Shapiro’s X post, referencing the coroner’s office, implied that this case is the second one he referred to last week.

The Amish community has long had low vaccination rates. Neither of the two babies was old enough to receive a measles vaccine, which is typically given at age 1.

Alice Gibbs at Newsweek:

David Mandell, the director of the Penn Center for Mental Health and a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania whose research focuses on autism services and policy, told Newsweek that claims that Amish communities do not experience autism are inaccurate.

"It's untrue to say that Amish communities have no autism," Mandell said.

He said measuring autism prevalence in Amish communities can be particularly difficult because diagnoses often depend on parental reporting and access to specialists.

"Autism is behaviorally determined and highly reliant on parent report," Mandell said, adding that prevalence studies can be challenging in communities where families may be less likely to discuss developmental concerns with outsiders.

The Amish are often cited in vaccine debates because some communities have lower immunization rates than the wider U.S. population.

An article published by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that Amish communities generally have lower vaccination uptake, although vaccination practices vary significantly between settlements and families.

Experts caution against treating the Amish as a single, uniform population. Different communities can have different health care practices, levels of engagement with doctors and attitudes toward vaccination.

That distinction is important because claims about "the Amish" often imply that all Amish children are unvaccinated, when vaccination practices can differ considerably among communities and households.

Mandell likewise cautioned against treating Amish communities as uniformly unvaccinated.

"Amish people do get vaccinated," he said. "While the vaccination rates are much lower than the surrounding populations, more than half of Amish children do get vaccinated

 

Congressional Pushback Against Special Ed Transfer

 In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

Project 2025 proposed to turn IDEA into a "no strings" block grant, effectively gutting the law and destroying protections that disability families have long relied upon. During the 2024 race, Trump denied any connection to the project, but now he proclaims it, praising OMB director Russ Vought "of Project 2025 fame."

Trump and Vought are now accomplishing their goal of ravaging the law. Instead of turning it into a block grant, they have tried firing most of the staff who enforce it.   More recently, they have shifted  OSERS to HHS and OCR to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, headed by a political hack who uses the r-word as a slur.

A release from Rep. John Mannion (D-NY):

Representatives John W. Mannion (NY-22), a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), Ranking Member of the Committee, and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) today introduced bipartisan legislation to protect key offices and programs at the U.S. Department of Education from being transferred through interagency agreements to other federal agencies that lack the staff, experience, and expertise needed to administer them.

The legislation is the House companion to S.5046, a bipartisan bill led by Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that advanced out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in July.

Representative John W. Mannion said, “Congress created the Department of Education, and its troubling we must take this step to preserve the constitutional order and stop the executive branch from illegally dismantling the department. I’ll continue to put students’ services and rights first, and I strongly oppose all efforts to move these critical education programs – including those serving students with disabilities - to agencies that lack the staff and expertise.”

Education and Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott said “The Trump Administration’s plan to illegally dismantle the Department of Education is disastrous for students, educators, people with disabilities, and the communities that support them. I will not stand on the sidelines and let this Administration dismantle this agency brick by brick. This legislation is important to keep the bipartisan momentum from the Senate going and defend the programs that so many Americans rely on.”

Representative Brian Fitzpatrick said, “The families I represent should never have to wonder whether a federal reorganization will cost their child a service, a protection, or an opportunity. When concerns were raised about moving OSERS out of the Department of Education, I took those concerns directly to the Administration and demanded answers about how it would protect IDEA, preserve critical resources, and prevent disruption for students. This legislation builds on that effort. As Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus, I will continue working side by side with families, educators, and advocates to ensure their voices drive the decisions that shape special education.”

The bipartisan bill safeguards programs serving students with disabilities, K-12 schools, colleges, and Native students. It prohibits the Secretary of Education from transferring programs overseen by four Department of Education offices:

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
The Office of Postsecondary Education
The Office of Indian Education

...

Joseph P. Joyce, President and CEO of the Autism Society of America, said, “Students with Autism and other disabilities deserve a coordinated federal system that protects their rights and supports them from education through employment. We thank Representatives Scott and Mannion for introducing this legislation to prevent the transfer of critical IDEA functions out of the Department of Education. Congress must preserve the expertise and infrastructure that students with disabilities and their families rely on to access the education and supports they need to thrive.”

Representative Mannion has consistently opposed efforts to abolish the Department of Education, introducing the Protecting Students with Disabilities Act that would prohibit federal funds from being used to eliminate or restructure Department of Education offices that administer programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including the Office of Special Education Programs. Mannion has also repeatedly used his position on the House Committee on Education and Workforce to defend IDEA and the rights of students with disabilities.

Representative Mannion taught science in public schools for nearly 30 years, including in a 15:1 special education classroom. Before serving in Congress, he was the founding chair of the New York State Senate Committee on Disabilities.

Measles, Early September 2026

 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 top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.  Last year, he lied about it under oath.

Since  Trump took office in 2025, the U.S. has recorded more confirmed measles cases than in the previous 20 years combined.

CDC:

As of September 3, 2026, 3,134 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026. Among these, 3,118 measles cases were reported by 47 jurisdictions: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. A total of 16 measles cases were reported among international visitors to the United States.

There have been 38 new outbreaks** reported in 2026, and 95% of confirmed cases (2,969 of 3,134) are outbreak-associated (1,594 from outbreaks starting in 2026 and 1,375 from outbreaks that started in 2025).

For the full year of 2025, a total of 2,289 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States.

American Oversight:

Thursday, American Oversight launched an investigation into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) apparently manipulated reporting surrounding two measles-associated deaths reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The alterations reportedly came at the command of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

We filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with HHS and CDC seeking records that could shed light on why the agency departed from its normal classification practices and altered its public reporting on the deaths following Secretary Kennedy’s demands as well as unsubstantiated claims that the data may have been “manipulated” by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

The investigation comes amid a nationwide rise in measles cases, including in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, home to the largest current outbreak in the country. On August 25, the Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed two measles-associated deaths of unvaccinated residents, the state’s first deaths linked to the virus in 35 years. One of the deaths involved a newborn who died shortly after birth. The baby’s mother had reportedly been severely ill with measles during her pregnancy. Under standard CDC practice, deaths reported by state health departments — including deaths that occurred in Texas and New Mexico during last year’s outbreak — are included in the agency’s national tally and the CDC does not challenge the state’s determination.

According to reporting by multiple outlets, newly confirmed CDC Director Erica Schwartz directed agency staff to exclude the two Pennsylvania deaths from its measles outbreak web page, which is typically updated each Friday. The demanded change reportedly came directly from Kennedy. The web page update was delayed until Sunday, August 30, and the dashboard’s national death total changed several times over the weekend before the agency added a note stating, “At this time, available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths or whether the individuals died from other causes while infected with measles.” CDC employees reportedly said the repeated changes stemmed from confusion among staff about what they were supposed to do.

The CDC’s break from standard practice came after Secretary Kennedy publicly accused Governor Shapiro of “manipulating” the truth and suggested on social media, without evidence, that the two deaths may even have been “fabricated” by Shapiro’s staff. The repeated dashboard revisions raise the question of whether the CDC’s public data was reshaped to align with Secretary Kennedy’s demands and political messaging rather than with the agency’s own longstanding classification practice.

State health officials, who classified the deaths as “measles-associated,” have stood by their findings.

Family Stress and Resilience

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families.

Duncan, A. L., & Shepley, C. (2026). Stronger Yet Stretched: Resilience and Stress in U.S. Families Raising Autistic Children. Autism, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613261480171

Lay abstract:

Raising a child with autism presents families with unique challenges and strengths, often characterized by heightened stress but also remarkable resilience. This study looked at data from the 2022 and 2023 National Survey of Children’s Health administered by the U.S. Census Bureau to examine the resilience and stress of U.S. families with and without a child diagnosed with autism. Statistical models revealed that although families of autistic children experience significantly higher stress, they also report higher levels of resilience compared with families of nonautistic children. Specifically, families raising a child with autism reported higher ratings of family communication, problem-solving, inner strength, and hope. These findings offer evidence of the adaptability and emotional growth present in households raising a child with autism.

From the article:

Given the disproportionate levels of stress reported by families raising a child with autism, alongside the widespread recognition of stress as a major contributing factor to detrimental mental and physical health conditions, it is logical to assume that families may seek treatments to mitigate their stress or service providers may proactively recommend treatments targeting stress. Studies on parent-directed treatments for decreasing stress have surged in recent years (Mo et al., 2024), with small-scale efficacy trials suggesting that mindfulness-based interventions and acceptance and commitment therapy may demonstrate potential viability as effective treatments (Li et al., 2024). Regarding treatments that should be avoided for decreasing stress, the use of applied behavior analysis for improving child skills will likely not have spillover effects that impact caregiver stress (Duncan et al., 2024; Duncan & Shepley, 2022). Similarly, studies that aim to improve caregiver abilities by training them to implement interventions based on applied behavior analysis will likely not result in improvements to caregiver stress (Mo et al., 2024). There is ongoing research looking to modify well-established treatments for reducing caregiver stress (Parent-Child Interaction Therapy [University of California, Los Angeles, 2024]) for families raising a child with autism; however, results from these studies will likely not be available for some years.