A Bonkers Week with RFK Jr.

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.

He is now Trump's secretary of HHS. 

On Thursday, RFK Jr. pledged to find the cause of autism by September. Christina Jewett at NYT:

Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician and expert on environmental toxins, pointed to the current mass layoffs and cutbacks for research at Mr. Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services as one reason for doubting such quick progress.

“Given that a great deal of research on autism and other pediatric diseases in hospitals and medical schools is currently coming to a halt because of federal funding cuts from H.H.S.,” he said, “it is very difficult for me to imagine what profound scientific breakthrough could be achieved between now and September.”

...

“We are launching requests to scientists from all over the country and all over the world,” Mr. Kennedy said in an interview on Fox News. “Everything is on the table: our food system, our water, our air, different ways of parenting, all the kind of changes that may have triggered this epidemic.”

In the interview, Mr. Kennedy also said an important part of the effort would be to compare autism rates in vaccinated and unvaccinated children. It’s an angle that many scientists dismiss, saying that parents who vaccinate their children are also more likely to get a diagnosis, given higher rates of interaction with health providers.

Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech at The Hill:

“We find that unrealistic and misleading,” President and CEO of The Autism Society of America Christopher Banks told The Hill.

Banks and The Autism Society of America’s Chief Marketing Officer Kristyn Roth agreed that there is a “significant need” for more investment and credentialed research to better understand autism spectrum disorder.
...
The speed at which Kennedy is promising to find the cause of the disability is harmful to those struggling during an autism diagnosis as well, Roth added.

‘It’s giving people a lot of false hope,” she said. “True, rigorous, peer-reviewed science takes time to find quality answers.”  

Alexander Tin at CBS:

A top federal health official ousted by the Trump administration denounced Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claim that he would be able to determine the cause of autism by September, warning against offering "false hope" to families.

"There are people, probably, who are hearing me now who know that I cared for leukemia patients for a significant number of years. Giving people false hope is something you should never do," said Dr. Peter Marks, in an interview Friday with "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."

 Adam Cancryn, Lauren Gardner and David Lim at Politico:

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s visit to the FDA Friday was supposed to introduce him as a trusted leader to agency employees. It did anything but.

Over the course of 40 minutes, Kennedy, in largely off-the-cuff remarks, asserted that the “Deep State” is real, referenced past CIA experiments on human mind control and accused the employees he was speaking to of becoming a “sock puppet” of the industries they regulate.

“Because of my family’s commitment to these issues, I spent 200 hours at Wassaic Home for the Retarded when I was in high school,” Kennedy said, in a reference to the Wassaic State School for the Mentally Retarded in Wassaic, New York. “So I was seeing people with intellectual disabilities all the time. I never saw anybody with autism.”

The remark jolted several FDA employees in the audience, who misheard the reference and thought he was making a derogatory remark about people with intellectual disabilities, according to two employees granted anonymity for fear of retaliation.

By the end of the event, billed as a welcome from the new commissioner, Marty Makary, several FDA staffers had walked out of the rooms where the speech was being broadcast at the agency’s headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, according to two employees granted anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Aria Bendix at NBC:

In an interview Wednesday with CBS News, Kennedy said the Trump administration was focused on finding ways to treat people who choose not to get vaccinated. However, there are no approved treatments for measles, which kills almost 3 out of every 1,000 people diagnosed.

Many medical experts have taken issue with his approach to the current measles outbreak, which has included emphasizing unproven treatments and framing vaccination as a personal choice (which some doctors view as a nod to his anti-vaccine supporters).

Kennedy also suggested that measles cases are inevitable in the United States because of ebbing immunity from vaccines — a notion doctors say is false.

 Devi Shastri at AP:

U.S. measles cases topped 700 as of Friday, capping a week in which Indiana joined five others states with active outbreaks, Texas grew by another 60 cases and a third measles-related death was made public.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed in a televised Cabinet meeting Thursday that measles cases were plateauing nationally, but the virus continues to spread mostly in people who are unvaccinated and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention redeployed a team to West Texas.

Trump and Kennedy Spout Vaccine Nonsense

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.

He is now Trump's secretary of HHS.  

Autistic Self Advocacy Network:

Today in a cabinet meeting, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised that “by September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we will be able to eliminate those exposures.” This alarming claim is untrue, impossible, and ableist. Like the hiring of David Geier, RFK Jr.’s comment is a clear signal that HHS intends to produce rigged and fraudulent research that supports Kennedy and Trump’s pre-existing beliefs in a connection between autism and vaccines.

April 10 Cabinet Meeting:

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: :And we have now the autism rates have gone from now most recent numbers we think are going to be about one in thirty-one from one in twelve. So, they’re going up again from one in ten thousand when I was a kid. And we are going at your direction.

We are going know by September. We’ve launched a massive testing and research effort that’s going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world. By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So, it was one in ten thousand children had autism, and now it’s one in thirty-one. Not thirty-one thousand, thirty-one. That’s a horrible statistic, isn’t it? And there’s got to be something artificial out there that’s doing this. So you think you’re going to have a pretty good idea,

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: We will know by September. There will be no bigger news conference on that.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So that’s it. If you can come up with that answer where you stop taking something, you stop eating something or maybe it’s a shot, but something is causing it. It can’t be from 10,000 to… can you imagine that, Marco? That’s a big number. Thank you very much. You’re doing great. Thank you, Bobby.

Pocatello Police Shoot Autistic Teen

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between police and autistic people.  When cops encounter autistic people, they may not respond in the same way as NT people, and things can get out of hand. Among other things, they may misinterpret autistic behavior as aggressive or defiant. Training could help.

Christopher Cann at USA Today:

A community in southeastern Idaho is demanding answers after police officers shot a disabled teenager from behind a chain-link fence seconds after they responded to his house and he approached them with a knife.

The teen, 17-year-old Victor Perez, who is autistic and has cerebral palsy, was shot nine times, his family told local news outlets. As of Tuesday, he remained in the hospital in critical condition and one of his legs was amputated.

The incident occurred Saturday evening in the city of Pocatello, where police responded to a 911 call reporting a physical disturbance involving a person with a knife and three other people. Within 20 seconds of officers' arrival, police shot Perez in the backyard of his home.

Video of the incident quickly circulated online and sparked outrage, with family members and neighbors questioning why police did not do more to de-escalate the situation or use non-lethal weapons. Perez's family members said he was in the midst of a behavioral episode, but that they can always get him under control when he's agitated.

 

Funding Stops for NISE

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the growing number of college students on the spectrum.  

Johanna Alonso at Inside Higher Ed:

In the six years since Vanderbilt University launched a fellowship program to teach Ph.D. students to connect their research to the study of neurodiversity, the program has graduated about 24 Ph.D.s who are autistic. Founder Keivan Stassun believes the program, called Neurodiversity Inspired Science and Engineering, may produce more autistic scientists and engineers than any other doctoral program in the world.

NISE is open to students who are neurotypical as well as those who are neurodivergent, meaning their brains process information differently than most people’s. But from the beginning, Stassun said, he expected it would attract a lot of autistic students.

“We really thought of [NISE] as a kind of a win-win-win. One win being the basic engineering and science research that these students were conducting. Another win being for advancing solutions for autistic and neurodivergent people in science and engineering. And the third win being for these students themselves,” Stassun said. “We anticipated that … this would be a vehicle for helping to ensure good mentorship and community and success for autistic and neurodivergent Ph.D. students.”

But now, NISE is in danger due to funding pauses at the National Science Foundation. For its first six years, the program was funded by an NSF Research Traineeship Program grant. Last year, Stassun applied for new NSF funding, not only to continue NISE at Vanderbilt but also to expand it and other successful programs within the university’s Frist Center for Autism and Innovation to other institutions.

In January, Stassun said, he received notice from the agency that the FCAI would be awarded $4 million in funding. But since then, he’s gotten nothing but radio silence from the NSF; the funding, which was supposed to arrive in March, never came.

Senators Oppose Scrapping the Education Department

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

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 7.5 million children 3 to 21 years old received services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in AY 2022-23.

About 980,000 of them were autistic, up from 498,000 in 2012-13.

The Trump administration is halving the staff of the Department of Education.

Last week, Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, led 22 of her colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who is trying to scrap her own department.

It is essential to recognize the vital role the Department plays in safeguarding the rights of students with disabilities. We are concerned by President Trump’s effort to transfer implementation and oversight of special education to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a move which you indicated you support during your confirmation hearing. The Department of Education has the statutory authority to implement and enforce IDEA. Without an act of Congress giving authority to HHS, this administration’s attempts to shift IDEA responsibility to HHS will merely prevent the law from being enforced at all. The Senate report from 1979 on the creation of the Department of Education found that the “significant, but carefully restrained Federal role in education…is severely hampered by its burial in [The Department of Health, Education and Welfare]…its confusing lines of authority and administration, its fragmentation, and its obvious lack of direction.” In other words, the Senate’s findings in 1979 indicate that this department structure was inefficient and resulted in a lack of attention to public education. The Department of Education is the only agency with an existing institutional infrastructure and a staff of subject matter experts dedicated to ensuring equal educational opportunity for children and students with disabilities. More than this, disabled students deserve to be seen as and treated as the learners and scholars they are. Students with disabilities belong in classrooms alongside their nondisabled peers, and they deserve the accommodations and supports that enable them to thrive. Because of the Department of Education’s specific expertise, it is best positioned to do the job well and efficiently. Transferring these authorities to HHS will not only overburden an agency already confronting massive workforce cuts orchestrated by this administration, but it will also stretch HHS beyond its expertise as medical, rather than educational, professionals.

We are alarmed by the potential consequences your proposed reassignment will have on the larger framework of education for students with disabilities. Prior to the passage of IDEA, only one in five children with disabilities were educated in schools, and more than 1.8 million children were systemically excluded from public school in the United States. Disabilities were seen as medical conditions to be treated and as a result, many children with disabilities were institutionalized rather than educated. We cannot risk regression to an outdated and dehumanizing perspective on disability, which prevented millions of children from accessing the inclusive public education they deserve. Our entire nation benefits when disabled people have equal access to a high-quality education that enables them to use their gifts and talents.

Additionally, the Trump administration instituted a one-month freeze on investigating discrimination complaints, an unprecedented decision even during a presidential transition. The Office for Civil Rights currently faces a backlog of 12,000 investigations, half of which involve students with disabilities. While the freeze was lifted February 20th for disability discrimination claims, we are concerned that the Department will still not have the capacity to process the backlog of 6,000 disability claims, as well as any incoming additional claims—especially considering the unjustified termination of dedicated public servants across the 12 regional divisions of the Office for Civil Rights.

...

In a speech on March 3rd, you called for the elimination of “unnecessary bureaucracy” at the Department. Yet, the Department has the smallest staff of any Cabinet-level agency while administering the third-largest discretionary budget. Prior to the recent firings, this number stood at 4,245 employees, including over 700 employees dedicated to addressing the needs of students with disabilities. More than 1,300 employees have since been fired, in addition to over 500 employees who have opted for separation packages. Indiscriminate firings of workers who are stewards of federal dollars appropriated by Congress with the mandate of ensuring equal access to education for all students does not eliminate “bureaucracy;” it merely impedes the Department’s ability to carry out its work on behalf of children. Indeed, following the recent reduction in force, a coalition of 20 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit arguing the layoffs are so severe the Department “can no longer function, and cannot comply with its statutory requirements.”

We are also concerned about the combined efforts from the Department and the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) to slash $900 million in education-related research and over $600 million in educator preparation grants. These cuts will negatively impact critical research into best practices to support students with disabilities who have the shared dream of graduating high school and contributing to our economy. The cuts also result in the suspension of highly successful programs designed to address the special education teacher shortage which has been consistent over decades and negatively impacts the educational outcomes of students with disabilities. We cannot effectively serve students with disabilities or make informed policy decisions without quality information and highly qualified teachers.

RFK Sorta Endorses MMR

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.

He is now Trump's secretary of HHS.  

Teddy Rosenbluth and Lucinda Holt at NYT:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, attended the funeral on Sunday of an 8-year-old girl who died of measles amid an outbreak that has burned through the region and called into question his ability to handle a public-health crisis.

The child’s death, in a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, early Thursday morning, is the second confirmed fatality from measles in a decade in the United States.

The child died of “measles pulmonary failure,” according to records obtained by The New York Times. The hospital, part of UMC Health System, confirmed the death later on Sunday, adding that the girl was unvaccinated and had no underlying health conditions.

Mr. Kennedy conferred with the girl’s family but did not speak at the funeral ceremony, according to people in attendance.

“My intention was to come down here quietly to console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief,” Mr. Kennedy said in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter.

“The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the M.M.R. vaccine,” he added, referring to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

At the same time, Mr. Kennedy has stopped short of recommending universal vaccination in communities where the virus is not spreading.

And he has ordered a re-examination of whether the vaccine causes autism, a claim long ago debunked by research, to be conducted by a well-known vaccine skeptic.

Some are praising RFK Jr. for accurately noting “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.”

That’s not enough.

He needs to state plainly, as below, that the MMR is safe, and that unvaccinated patients should receive it.https://t.co/q5riyuiFs3 https://t.co/WVOfWDUAP6 pic.twitter.com/4wydKXGbEr

— Dr. Michelle Au (@AuforGA) April 6, 2025

IEPs in the Age of Trump

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in campaign politics.   In the 2016 campaign, a number of posts discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues more generally.   As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities.   

Project 2025 proposes to turn IDEA into a "no strings" block grant, effectively gutting the law and destroying protections that disability families have long relied upon.

Watch to see if the Trump budget proposes such change.  Meanwhile, it is doing its best to weaken implementation of IDEA.

Kayla Jimenez at  USA TODAY

Special education experts are now warning that families' paths to accessing a working IEP for their children could get worse with the Trump administration's attempts to dismantle the Education Department. That agency has enforced the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal law guaranteeing students with disabilities the right to a "free and appropriate public education" for decades.

The Trump administration recently slashed $900 million in education-related research contracts and more than $600 million in educator preparation grants. Both cuts will affect students with disabilities, experts say.

President Donald Trump has said federal protections for the millions of students with disabilities across the United States "will be fully preserved" and transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

...

Rich Weinfeld and his team of consultants at The Weinfeld Education Group work with parents of families with IEPs to help them advocate for their kids at their schools. They often encourage parents to seek data from the Education Department's research arm.

The Institute of Education Sciences has historically researched and collected nationwide data on what interventions work for students with specific disabilities at specific ages and learning levels.

That could range from how a student with dyslexia should be taught to how much homework and what type of social skills instruction a student with autism should be assigned

"In terms of medicine, we would think about which medicine is proven to work with what specific diagnosis and how often and with what dosage should that medication be given," he said. "We look at the data about which interventions are proven to work, and how often and under what circumstances should that intervention be given. We can all agree kids should have an intervention, but without evidence based data, we may not be able to agree which interventions should be used and how often it should be provided."

The Trump administration recently laid off essentially the entire staff at the Institute of Education Sciences, effectively gutting its ability to conduct further research on students with disabilities.

Measles Cases

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.

 From CDC:

As of April 3, 2025, a total of 607 confirmed* measles cases were reported by 22 jurisdictions: Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Washington.

The problem is far from over. Teddy Rosenbluth at NYT:

Both the W.H.O. withdrawal and the possible loss of Gavi’s funding are likely to cause a surge in measles cases overseas, increasing the likelihood that a U.S. traveler will bring the virus back into the country, said Dr. Walter Orenstein, a professor emeritus at Emory University and the former director of the National Immunization Program at the C.D.C.

“People don’t understand that supporting global immunization not only is good for their countries, but for our country,” he said.

This week’s layoffs at the C.D.C. included staff members who communicate with the public during infectious disease outbreaks and help craft campaigns to encourage vaccination.

Now communications will be centralized at the Department of Health and Human Services, under the control of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic. The department did not respond to requests for comment.

 

The Kennedy Catastrophe

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.

He is now Trump's secretary of HHS.  

Brandy Zadrozny at NBC:

Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist with a well-documented history of promoting misinformation, promised ahead of his confirmation as HHS secretary that he would not take away vaccines. Since taking office, however, he has repeatedly downplayed the severity of measles currently sweeping the country — outbreaks that have hospitalized scores of children and left at least two dead. He has publicly pushed unproven treatments, including vitamin A regimens that have reportedly sickened children, and offered limp public support for vaccines themselves — despite vaccines offering the safest, most effective way to prevent many infectious diseases. Under his leadership, HHS has overseen mass firings across federal health agencies, including staff responsible for outbreak response and vaccine access; canceled or postponed meetings of independent vaccine advisory committees; and ended vaccine education campaigns.

Leana Wen at WP:

This week, ProPublica reported that staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been ordered to withhold their expert assessment that the risk of contracting measles is high in areas with low community vaccination rates. CDC workers were specifically instructed not to add language on the importance of vaccination. Instead, the CDC now says “the decision to vaccinate is a personal one,” mirroring language Kennedy used in a Fox News column.

This is a departure from the unambiguous recommendation the CDC has long endorsed. The MMR vaccine has been used for more than 50 years and is why the United States successfully eliminated measles in 2000. Since then, activists have chipped away at vaccine confidence by claiming that vaccines are linked to autism despite more than a dozen studies disproving any association.

NYT:

Measles continues to spread in Texas and New Mexico, and has spilled into the neighboring states of Oklahoma and Kansas. The outbreak is likely to persist for a year, according to Texas health officials.

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have reported isolated measles cases, typically linked to international travel. Ohio has confirmed a small outbreak following an initial case that was linked to an international traveler.

At least 560 measles cases have been reported nationwide this year, with 516 cases linked to outbreaks and 44 isolated cases.

 

ASAN on Trump

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in campaign politics.   In the 2016 campaign, a number of posts discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues more generally.   As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities.   

From the Autistic Self Advocacy Network:

Today, the administration announced its recognition of “World Autism Awareness Day.” This is a step backwards from the previous administration’s recognition of World Autism Acceptance Day. But this change is far from the only way the Trump administration is turning the clock back when it comes to meeting the needs and protecting the rights of autistic people. From science to services and supports, the government is determined to drag us into a past marked by ignorance and institutionalization. Trump’s statement talks about “opportunities for all Americans to thrive and prosper,” but . From science to services and supports, the government is determined to drag us into a past marked by ignorance and institutionalization. 
Today’s announcement claims that the Trump administration is “prioritizing gold standard research.” In fact, the only autism research the administration has platformed is redoing already thoroughly debunked research into autism and vaccines, for which it has hired a known quack. The administration has also notably made cuts to autism research programs that receive federal funding. This includes millions of dollars in cuts to research and programs aimed at improving the lives of already existing autistic people.

The statement also says that the administration is “increasing transparency” around its autism policies and research. This comes after the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has ended HHS’ policy of accepting public comments during the rulemaking process, and amid a communications freeze at HHS that has brought cooperation between the agency and stakeholders to a halt. The only information about any public engagement around the harmful “Make America Healthy Again” commission was an announcement from Children’s Health Defense, an organization that Kennedy founded, that the MAHA commission would be meeting with the public “on the road.” There has been no confirmation from HHS about whether this is true, and there has been no consultation or communication with autistic-led organizations about the harmful autism policies that Secretary Kennedy has put forward.

The announcement says that there has been “a staggering increase” in autism prevalence. But increased diagnosis is nothing to fear. There have been a number of improvements to our understanding of autism in different groups of people, and improvements to insurance access in America since the 1980s. This includes the passing of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion. More people are getting diagnosed because we are getting better at finding and understanding autism. This is why more Black, Asian and Pacific Islander and Hispanic 8 year olds are being diagnosed than their white peers, for the first time in US history — it’s a reflection of more people getting access to diagnosis.

Today’s announcement says that the administration will “empower [autistic people] to reach their full potential and realize their American Dream.” But autistic people cannot reach our full potential if our access and support needs are not met. The Trump administration threatens our ability to live full lives by making it harder to access Social Security. It is trying to take away lifesaving services by cutting Medicaid and its waiver programs to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. It threatens our inclusion in schools by trying to destroy the Department of Education. And it harms our inclusion in our communities by dismantling the Administration for Community Living.

While short, the statement notably only speaks to people who “[aid] Americans with ASD” and focuses only on children. It completely fails to even acknowledge the existence of autistic adults. This might be because we are aware of how much harm the administration is doing to our community. Or perhaps this statement is also a relic of a time when we were not invited to advocate for ourselves.

Too often, the administration clings to obsolete ideas about our community. Even when it claims to believe that “Americans with ASD have made, and will continue to make outstanding contributions for our country and the world,” it takes pains to define us first by our “challenges.” We see this focus reflected in the administration’s policies, such as when the president publicly blames people with developmental disabilities for a deadly plane crash and attacked Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) programs and when he called for a return to institutions and threatened programs that help us to live in our communities.

The administration claims it is moving us towards a brighter future. This is a lie. It is attempting to drag us backwards to a time before people listened to self advocates, when autism research and advocacy centered around institutionalization and the fruitless search for a “cure.” These priorities were wrong before, and they’re still wrong now.

Autistic adults exist. We live and belong in our communities. The services and data we rely on to do that are under threat because of this administration’s policies. The administration may claim that it is working towards a better future for autistic people, but we cannot ignore its harmful actions. We know how to fight back against this awful rhetoric and these regressive policies, because they are the same policies self-advocates have been fighting for decades. ASAN will continue to resist the Trump administration’s dogged attempts to drag us into the past.

World Autism Awareness Day 2025

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss efforts to raise the issue's profile.  One such effort is World Autism Awareness Day.

From the United Nations:

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling for renewed commitment to create a more equal and inclusive world in his message marking World Autism Awareness Day on Tuesday.

This year’s theme - Advancing Neurodiversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - highlights the intersection between neurodiversity and global sustainability efforts.

The goal is to showcase how inclusive policies and practices can drive positive change for autistic individuals worldwide and contribute to making the SDGs a reality.
Isolation, stigma and inequality

“People with autism often experience isolation, stigma and inequality. They have been denied healthcare and education – especially during crises – and their legal capacity has been unrecognized and over-ridden,” the Secretary-General said.

“Such discrimination contravenes the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Sustainable Development Goals’ commitment to leave no one behind. It must change,” he added.

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder, constitutes a diverse group of conditions related to development of the brain, according to a fact sheet by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Characteristics may be detected in early childhood, involving some degree of difficulty with social interaction and communication, however diagnosis often does not occur until much later.
Vaccine link debunked

It is estimated that about 1 in 100 children worldwide has autism. Available scientific evidence suggests that there are probably many factors that make a child more likely to have autism, including environmental and genetic factors, WHO said.

The UN agency noted that extensive research over many years has demonstrated that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine does not cause autism.

“Studies that were interpreted as indicating any such link were flawed, and some of the authors had undeclared biases that influenced what they reported about their research,” the fact sheet said.

Furthermore, evidence also shows that other childhood vaccines do not increase risk.
Varied life experiences

The abilities and needs of autistic people vary and can evolve over time, WHO explained. While some can live independently, others have severe disabilities and require life-long care and support.

Autism also often has an impact on education and employment opportunities, while families can face significant demands in providing care and support.

The Secretary-General stressed that governments must adopt legislation and policies that guarantee equality and promote the full participation of people with autism in society.

“We need inclusive health and education systems, work environments, and urban design – to ensure people with autism have equal opportunities to thrive,” he said.

“On World Autism Awareness Day, let us recommit to create a world where no person with autism is left behind,” his message concluded.
Commitment to diversity

Throughout its history, the UN has celebrated diversity and promoted the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities, including learning differences and developmental disabilities.

For example, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which entered into force in 2008, reaffirms the fundamental principle of universal human rights for all.

That same year, the UN General Assembly – which brings together all 193 Member States – unanimously declared 2 April as World Autism Awareness Day to improve the quality of life of people with autism so they can lead full and meaningful lives as an integral part of society.

Special Education Medical Model

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in campaign politics.   In the 2016 campaign, a number of posts discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues more generally.   As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities.   

A week ago, Kalyn Belsha and Erica Meltzer reported at Chalkbeat: "It’s unclear what part of HHS would oversee special education. Some disability rights advocates say it could be the Administration for Community Living, which supports adults with disabilities..."

Not now.

Meredith Kolodner and Marina Villeneuve at the Hechinger Report:

Trump wants to shift responsibility for federal special education programs from the Education Department to the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, but has not provided any specifics about what that transition would look like. Trump told reporters in March that HHS “will be handling special needs.”

Parents might not see an immediate difference in their children’s education, but experts warn Trump’s planned move could mean big changes in the classroom. Advocates are worried that oversight and support for schools would suffer because HHS does not have education expertise, and the needs of many children with disabilities are educational, not medical.

Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, said the move would “take us back 50 years.”

“We wouldn’t take our kids to the doctor to learn reading and math, and we don’t want a primarily medical model overseeing education,” she said.

While Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on March 21 that his agency is “fully prepared to take on the responsibility of supporting individuals with special needs,” he hasn’t provided details. He also said he plans to downsize HHS, shedding 20,000 staffers in total — about a quarter of the workforce, raising questions about its capacity to provide he support and protection to students with disabilities as required by law.