RFK Jr., Get Your Facts Straight About Autism
Updated on May 19, 2025One of the biggest hurdles for autistic people, their families, caregivers, and others connected to the community is the battle for understanding. It is difficult enough to educate people about what autism is and how to treat those who have this condition. But when a powerful political figure, with control over an essential government healthcare agency, makes highly inaccurate statements about autism, the challenge just gets even bigger.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Controversial Autism Statements
RFK Jr. is the Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He has made it his mission to examine a number of American health issues, such as obesity and vaccines, from a point of view that departs from previous HHS secretaries.
What Really Causes Autism
When it comes to autism, RFK Jr. believes that the condition has become an epidemic and is due to toxins. He explains that recent reported increases in numbers of people with autism can be traced to environmental factors.
Yet this ignores important developments in the study of autism. For starters, autism was once thought of as a form of schizophrenia. Other disabilities like Asperger’s Syndrome and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD) were considered separate. But now, both Asperger’s and CDD are considered part of the autism spectrum, while the idea of a link to schizophrenia is ancient history.
The result of this changing definition is that people who were once categorized with other disabilities are now considered to have some form of autism. The number of people described as autistic has increased, in part, for this reason.
Research by fundamental healthcare institutions has found that autism results from a mix of environmental and genetic factors. This report from the American Academy of Pediatrics explains how studies involving twins demonstrate that “the environmental component is an unlikely explanation of both ASD risk and the increase in ASD over time”.
Age of First Diagnosis
A second factor in growing numbers of people on the spectrum results from improved methods of diagnosis. For instance, we have developed the ability to recognize autism in children even when they are just nine months old. Diagnosing autism early on means that treatment also starts earlier. But, as a result, more children are included in autism statistics.
Yet RFK Jr. has a rather shocking counterpoint. He said that many autistic kids were at first “fully functional” but then “regressed… into autism when they were two years old”. This statement contradicts much of the research that has been done over the past forty years in an effort to analyze how behavior in certain babies and toddlers reflects early signs of ASD.
Quality of Life
For a politician who should know how to use diplomatic language, RFK Jr. expresses anything but when it comes to autistic people and their caregivers. He claimed that autism is preventable, and then said that “it destroys families”. RFK Jr. also said that autistic people are unemployable, totally dependent on others, and will lead a life devoid of love.
But, in many cases, the opposite is true. With the right care, many of those (with Level 1 autism, for instance) can live fulfilling lives that require minimal intervention from others. It is only in more extreme cases that an autistic person needs constant attention.
Autism as a Spectrum
It’s right there in the name – “autism spectrum disorder”. Anybody with the most basic knowledge of this disability understands that it can range from mild to “requiring very substantial support”. RFK Jr.’s statements about quality of life reflect his ignorance on the subject.
So, sure enough, he later walked back his statement to clarify that he was referring to the “25% of people who have severe autism”. But here too, RFK Jr. is using outdated terminology. Modern professionals refer to autism today in terms of level, not severity.
Yet perhaps the most distressing aspect of his words is the lack of nuance. RFK Jr. is the one deciding how research dollars are spent. But his many mistakes show that he is obviously not an expert on the issue. Is he really the best person for this critical job?
The Truth Will Come Out
RFK Jr.’s goal is to sponsor research that examines his theories. In many ways, this is a case of reinventing the wheel. Serious institutions have already examined his claims and found them to be untrue. But let’s see. If the scientists hired by the HHS do their job, everybody wins through gaining even more information about the origins and challenges of autism–after all, knowledge is always a good thing.
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