Everything. The end. Just kidding. Though Robert F. Kennedy—RFK— Jr. probably thinks autistic people cannot tell jokes either.
Here is what our Secretary of Health and Human Services had to say about autistic children recently: “Autism destroys families. And more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children.” Yada yada, anti-vaccine nonsense, “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.”
RFK Jr. has rightfully received condemnation for these remarks. I personally find these remarks to be ableist, ignorant and demonstrative of a lack of humanity and compassion. I think many of President Donald Trump’s past and present policies—such as separating families at the border—and proposed policies will and have destroyed families. Aside from that, there do exist families who are “destroyed” by an autism diagnosis, but that should not be the case. We cannot let ableism and a lack of compassion allow a neurological disorder to destroy families. I will not pretend that an autism diagnosis never makes a family’s life more difficult, but if you are a truly loving person or a truly loving family, no diagnosis will destroy you.
Now, to be clear, there are autistic people who meet RFK Jr.’s description—aside from the destroyer of families part. Are they the majority? I do not believe so. Even if they were, RFK Jr.’s description is still a broad generalization that lacks nuance. Though, in all fairness, his current place of employment is not that into nuance. As nice as it would be for RFK Jr. to be the loud, annoying problem who is the subject of insults and attacks on character—there is no shortage of both—that does not describe our reality. RFK Jr. and his outspoken, painfully outdated views are rather loud and very annoying symptoms of several larger problems.
The first problem RFK Jr. is a symptom of is the current state of American politics. President Trump has demonstrated, via RFK Jr.’s appointment, among other cabinet choices, a willingness to give a bumbling fool who pledges loyalty a cabinet position—even if said bumbling fool ran a presidential campaign against him. I am not even going to go into the mostly bipartisan—at the very least bipartisan within the electorate—disapproval of RFK Jr.’s appointment and tenure. Unfortunately, Congress is known for many things: having a backbone is not one of them.
However, something with much more staying power than the state of politics is the second problem related to RFK Jr. I am referring to the representation of autistic people within the media. Until very recently, the majority of autistic individuals in the media fit into one of two archetypes. You had the socially awkward savants—think Sheldon from “The Big Bang Theory”—or you had the individuals who are labeled as severely autistic—think the title character from Sia’s ableist and widely-panned movie “Music.” To be clear, both of these kinds of people exist, but the problem is that if the autism spectrum were a line, these two archetypes would be on opposite ends of the line. Most autistic individuals would fall somewhere between the ends, though rarely right in the middle. But due to the state of representation, most people assume autistic people are like those archetypes. Anytime someone asks me if I am like Sheldon, I am massively insulted. If Sheldon were a real person, he would be widely unlikeable, and many people would think he is an asshole. When people find out I am autistic, I do not want them to think I am like that.
The mere existence and life experiences of many autistic people throw a wrench in RFK Jr.’s ideas about autism. Just look at the child in the picture. He is both autistic and receiving a baseball trophy—mind blown. He has also written poems, is working on a fantasy novel, has had jobs and will soon be applying for paralegal jobs. Furthermore, he got into Vassar College, wrote this article and, unless hell freezes over or he becomes president of the United States, he is going to pay taxes.
My concluding message is that we should not deny that there are autistic people who meet RFK Jr.’s description. Rather, we should remember and celebrate the diversity, and more importantly, humanity, of our autistic peers and coworkers—even RFK Jr. currently has at least one autistic coworker. Ignorant people like RFK Jr. have always existed and will continue to exist. Only by highlighting the multifaceted autism experience, which is indisputable evidence that RFK Jr. is wrong, can we hope to relegate RFK Jr. and those like him to the fringes. To learn more about autism, please check out the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and please do not check out Autism Speaks.
For RFK Jr., my message to you is that I think you should do your research and truly learn about the autistic community and the variation that exists within it. I am aware that because there is so much diversity within the community, it is no small task to truly understand it. For that reason, I recommend that you quit your day job. I am very confident that the country can function without you as Secretary of Health and Human Services, so you can dedicate yourself fully to understanding autism.