Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should, in theory, have his hands full dealing with a nationwide measles outbreak, or the bird flu that sent egg prices soaring.
However, the raw milk-loving anti-vaxxer now charged with overseeing our nation’s well-being has decided his attention is best spent gutting scientific research—and spewing more hateful rhetoric toward the autistic community.
His latest hard-hitting theory: Autism is worse than the COVID-19 pandemic because the death of droves of senior citizens is less of a tragedy than young people having varying degrees of a neurodevelopmental disorder.
“It dwarfs the COVID epidemic and the impacts on our country because COVID killed old people. Autism affects children and affects them at the beginning of their lives, the beginning of their productivity,” he said during an interview on “The Cats Roundtable” podcast that aired Sunday.
“And it’s absolutely debilitating for them, their families, their communities, and for our county,” Kennedy continued, “just the pure economic cost of autism.”
During the height of COVID-19 in 2020, the pandemic killed hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. alone. At one point in New York City, workers were storing dead bodies in refrigerated tractor trailers because the morgues could not keep up with the pace of deaths
But if you ask Kennedy, a notorious conspiracy theorist who has claimed that immunizations, like the COVID-19 vaccine, cause autism, this neurodevelopmental condition trumps those deaths.
Kennedy went on to describe a portion of the autistic community as a financial burden to the U.S., saying that the “economic cost” could hit $1 trillion by 2035.
“Those families, those children are nonverbal, they’re non-toilet-trained,” he continued.
“They have all the stereotypical features of autism, head-banging, toe-walking, stimming, agonizing gut pain and head-banging. Those kids are kids that will not hold jobs.
He did soften his tone compared to the April 16 screed that drew furious backlash.
“And many kids with autism—many of the higher-functioning autism actually can, have tremendous potential to live independently, to get jobs, take care of themselves,” Kennedy stuttered.
The head of our health department has launched a witch hunt to find the “causes” of autism in things like ultrasounds, medicines, pesticides, food chemicals, and more. This follows a Centers for Disease Control report which said one in 31 children under 8 years old are being diagnosed with the disorder.
However, Kennedy is at odds with the department he oversees when it comes to this topic, given the CDC’s own findings stating that the number of cases is on the rise because of the medical community’s improving ability to recognize and properly diagnose people with autism.
Of course, that won’t stop the man who dumped a dead bear in Central Park for funsies from generalizing and bashing autistic people.
Related | RFK Jr. continues to show he’s really bad at his job
Because to Kennedy, the true tragedy is that autistic people 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,” he said Wednesday during a press conference.
Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine and the father of a daughter with autism, completely refuted Kennedy’s ableist claims.
“My adult daughter Rachel, works everyday, pays taxes, has friends, loves going to the movies, and listens to lousy (IMO) music,” Hotez wrote in a social media post. “She has a meaningful and thoughtful life.”
In a statement provided to CNN, Zoe Gross, director of advocacy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, slammed Kennedy’s clueless pronouncements.
“He set up this litmus test of what it is to be a person and have a valuable life,” said Gross, who is autistic. “It’s not acceptable to talk that way anymore because of the work that we’ve done.”