Althouse: "When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a recent press briefing that autistic children will 'never pay taxes,' 'never hold a job,' 'never play baseball'...."

April 25, 2025

"When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a recent press briefing that autistic children will 'never pay taxes,' 'never hold a job,' 'never play baseball'...."

"... many people in the autism community reacted angrily. And yet I was transported back to the psychiatrist’s office and her bleak prognosis that my child might never speak again. I found myself nodding along as Mr. Kennedy spoke about the grim realities of profound autism. It’s not a position I expected to be in. I have never voted for Donald Trump. I vaccinated my children. I consider myself squarely left of center.... I have no interest in defending Mr. Kennedy.... And yet, I think his remarks echo the reality and pain of a subset of parents of children with autism who feel left out of much of the conversation around the condition. Many advocacy groups focus so much on acceptance, inclusion and celebrating neurodiversity that it can feel as if they are avoiding uncomfortable truths about children like mine...."

From "Kennedy Described My Reality" (NYT).

63 comments:

Quayle said...: Forked between a reality and pride (i.e. I can't be seen as supporting DJT in any way). Good for her - she chose reality.; 4/25/25, 10:28 AM
hombre said...: “Kennedy defined my [skewed] reality.” There. Fixed.; 4/25/25, 10:31 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: That is encouraging to see. Since he made that speech (was it really just last week?) almost every autism parent "reaction" I've seen is anger, twisting his words as if he said ALL autistic children when he was clearly singling out Profound Autism. So seeing someone deal honestly with what he said, even couched in all the anti-Trump hysteria she felt the need to rehearse showing her full indoctrination into the corporate media's caricature of him, is good. My hunch is the comments section of NYT will tear her down. But I for one appreciate her viewpoint.

Something has resulted in an explosion of autism in the last 30 years. I'd like facts. Answers. September seems like a short deadline but I'll extend RFK the benefit of the doubt.; 4/25/25, 10:37 AM
rehajm said...: There’s a lot of this reality hitting lefties in the face going on…but nowhere near enough…; 4/25/25, 10:39 AM
n.n said...: Many won't. Inoculations are an issue, notably inflammatory responses, toxic adjuvants, and persistent, migratory anthropogenic mRNA treatments. Not all inoculations are vaccines, all follow a schedule, and most have a context.; 4/25/25, 10:40 AM
MadisonMan said...: Formatting issues with this blog post. But I'm heartened to read of people reacting favorably to what I think is a common-sense statement by RFKJr. There are parents in my immediate vicinity who deal with a kid on the spectrum. It's difficult for them. I don't think they'd choose this path, given the choice; rather, they've accepted it with grace and moved forward.; 4/25/25, 10:44 AM
Big Mike said...: Something has resulted in an explosion of autism in the last 30 years. I'd like facts. Answers.

As long as Big pharma can keep buying, er hiring at ridiculous salaries, the scientists most capable of honestly researching the possibility of a causal link between autism and vaccinations, this will never be resolved.; 4/25/25, 10:45 AM
wild chicken said...: So RFK goes to the other extreme, speaking as if all the new autism cases are the profound type. What could possibly go wrong.; 4/25/25, 10:46 AM
n.n said...: Neurodiversity? Individuals? Contra Diversity, it is diversity of individuals, minority of one. Pehaps there is hope for NYT.; 4/25/25, 10:47 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/25, 10:49 AM
AZ Bob said...: It's hard to argue with acceptance and inclusion but "celebrating neurodiversity" is taking it to a new level.; 4/25/25, 10:49 AM
Yancey Ward said...: I have known a couple of parents who had autistic children- Kennedy is absolutely correct based on my own observations.; 4/25/25, 10:50 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: When I first started wandering in and out of classrooms in the early 70's as a newly minted teacher, autism was unheard of. By the time I retired in the aughts is was prominent. When I went back to work in the 20's I find it is legion. Everywhere in every class if it's on the spectrum. Profound autistics are separated and another wing away from the general population only noticed if one of them escapes and runs, shedding clothes, throwing feces and pursued by staff.; 4/25/25, 10:50 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Wild Chicken, it has been observed that the condition may be increasingly over-diagnosed for financial reasons. The kids diagnosed, let's say up until 1990, by the metrics of the pre-1990 days are rarely going to be independent at any point of their lives.; 4/25/25, 10:54 AM
gadfly said...: Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is under fire for controversial remarks about children with autism. Kennedy claimed that autistic children are unable to pay taxes, hold a job, write a poem, go on a date, or use the toilet without assistance. Following backlash, Kennedy clarified on Fox News that he was referring to the more than 25% of people with severe autism.

So we should begin with the presmise that he lied and then attempted to coverup his lies. The great majority of autistics are intellectually unimpaired by their condition and autism is not , as JFKJr claims, "a preventible disease."

But the Trump regime can can easily fix the problem of having chosen incompetents to run the governmental departments as in "Bye bye Bobby."; 4/25/25, 10:54 AM
D.D. Driver said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/25, 11:03 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: So RFK goes to the other extreme, speaking as if all the new autism cases are the profound type.

Bullshit. He did no such thing. Stop taking the lying media's word for things and listen to his speech for yourself.; 4/25/25, 11:05 AM
narciso said...: You know who you are addressing, lol; 4/25/25, 11:12 AM
Chris said...: It was just yesterday that most of my progressive liberal leftist friends were very concerned about autism. Claiming it was caused by environmental factors and that something MUST be done. Today, they are all very angry, very angry indeed with RFKjr for suggesting such a thing. Autism is completely natural and normal and quite beautiful and HOW DARE HE question it. The whiplash hits hard. I'm so fucking tired of it.; 4/25/25, 11:13 AM
Peachy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/25, 11:14 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Following backlash, Kennedy clarified on Fox News that he was referring to the more than 25% of people with severe autism.

It was obvious to anyone who watched Kennedy first hand that he was referring to the severe cases. Fox, as is their habit, opens a story quoting the leftist media lying about Kennedy BUT unlike other corporate media gives him the space to clarify.

Gadfly, oblivious to the truth, interprets this as Kennedy "lying." Sure, you and SuperChicken have somehow sniffed out the truth. Don't you guys ever get tired of spreading Fake News?; 4/25/25, 11:15 AM
Peachy said...: Good grief. Again - it's a spectrum.
Many individuals with full-blown/severe autism - WILL NEVER HOLD A JOB. Or a meaningful job that isn't charity.; 4/25/25, 11:16 AM
Peachy said...: America has a tantrum problem.; 4/25/25, 11:17 AM
Narr said...: Is there an echo in here?; 4/25/25, 11:17 AM
TreeJoe said...: I have worked in medical research for >20 years.

The graph showing the rise in Autism diagnoses is, at best, incomplete information.

Autism became a spectrum disorder (i.e. "ASD"). Show me the rise of diagnoses at end part of the spectrum. Break it into quartiles.

If the rise is generally similar across all quartiles, I'd suggest environmental factors AND/OR enhanced diagnostics.

If the rise skews to the more modest/minor end of the spectrum, then it's likely to be diagnostic changes.

If the rise is almost entirely on the modest/minor end of the spectrum, it's almost certainly diagnostic changes.; 4/25/25, 11:23 AM
n.n said...: The increase in autism diagnoses may not reflect new cases, but they may represent a progressive behavioral condition, which can be attributed to a statistically significant change in the environment.; 4/25/25, 11:28 AM
Jupiter said...: "Show me the rise of diagnoses at end part of the spectrum. Break it into quartiles."
So, you've been doing medical research for > 20 years, but you don't know what those quartiles look like? OK. Not your problem. So who would? Whose job is it to know those numbers? Have they been doing it? Where is it published?; 4/25/25, 11:30 AM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: It's really pathetic, but telling, that Party members feel they have to engage in long preambles and include excuses whenever they declare themselves in agreement with truth, facts, and reality just because DJT also agrees with them.; 4/25/25, 11:32 AM
Jupiter said...: "I have no interest in defending Mr. Kennedy, whose shaky science and conspiracy theories will do nothing to benefit those with autism and their families ...".
Of course, they just might do quite a bit for those who don't have autism, yet.; 4/25/25, 11:39 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: The disavowals made me laugh out loud. Self-McCarthyism for progs boxed by reality.; 4/25/25, 11:43 AM
Jupiter said...: I have to keep reminding myself, that these people are attacking Robert Kennedy for wanting to know what has caused a huge increase in a devastating disease, and intending to find out. They really hate him for that, and they'll stop him if they can. It's none of his business why children's lives are being ruined.; 4/25/25, 11:43 AM
narciso said...: when they show us some research that has an explanation, how long has this going on 30 years now,; 4/25/25, 11:51 AM
TreeJoe said...: Jupiter, what are you talking about in your response to me. My point was, looking at a rise in overall autism cases is itself, at best, incomplete information. There's a need to dive into that much more to use it as an inference to potential causation(s) for further research.

We've spent 30 years blaming vaccines on the backs of, at best, anecdotes that some number of children have behavioral changes as an onset symptom of autism and that some of those children have that onset symptom in the days after a vaccination. Well, yes, that'll happen when you are vaccinating tons and tons of kids.

If anything, we've spent 30 years concretely disproving and eliminating vaccines as either a cause of or significant contributing factor to autism. At the cost of lives, sickness, and significant doubt in the intervening years.

Show me deeper data on autism rise rates, that's what I'm saying. Show me it multi-nationally. Show it me broken into quartiles, or quintiles, or deciles across the spectrum. Show me it by state. Show me it tied to updates in the DSM. Etc. etc.

This isn't my area of focus. My call out was simply a rise in diagnoses does not mean a rise in cases. It MAY mean that, or it may mean better diagnostic tools and efforts. Or it may mean over-diagnosis.; 4/25/25, 12:14 PM
TreeJoe said...: ....add on to last sentence....

Or it could be all of the above.; 4/25/25, 12:14 PM
boatbuilder said...: What TreeJoe says. Any chance the NYT might look into that? 5%?
I hope RFK jr does.; 4/25/25, 12:22 PM
Jason said...: “The only people we hate more than the Trump Administration are the f****** parents of low-functioning autists.” —Parents of higher-functioning autists on my feed all last week.; 4/25/25, 12:36 PM
Aggie said...: @meep, thank you for sharing that part of your life to help aid understanding of autism, and God's blessings to you and your devotion.; 4/25/25, 12:43 PM
Dogma and Pony Show said...: Where the science is so obviously unsettled, I just think parents should have maximum autonomy to act in what they believe is in their child's interests. Covid proved to me that "experts" can't be trusted with unlimited power in these things. It's important to force the experts to make a persuasive case for whatever public health measures they're pushing rather than let them impose them by fiat.; 4/25/25, 12:47 PM
Jupiter said...: "Jupiter, what are you talking about in your response to me."
What I was addressing specifically was the fact that you seem to believe it would be a simple matter to sort this out, but it hasn't been done. That would seem to indicate that the people who are paid billions of dollars to do it are incompetent, at best.; 4/25/25, 12:50 PM
Jupiter said...: BTW, it's not just autism. Injections are also responsible for "crib death". And doctors who offer parents the option of leaving their children unvaccinated (a very small group, under constant pressure and threats from the medical "authorities") report that their unvaccinated patients are healthier than their vaccinated patients, by almost every measure.; 4/25/25, 12:53 PM
Jupiter said...: Then there's the fact that the makers of vaccines are shielded from legal liability. No one else is. You make an airplane, the airplane crashes and kills people, you can be sued. A bicycle, a car, a dogsled, an electric blanket ... on through the alphabet it goes. People selling products, and getting sued. Then suddenly, you get to "V is for vaccine", and the legal system can't be trusted to handle the situation. Which is to say, the fix is in.; 4/25/25, 12:58 PM
Iman said...: Gee… hope it all works out for them.

/sarc; 4/25/25, 1:06 PM
Iman said...: Hang tough with your ideology, pinhead.; 4/25/25, 1:08 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: Every now and then reality will reach out and grab a lefty by the hand and force the lefty to look at things as they are--not as they are wished for.; 4/25/25, 1:14 PM
stunned said...: Good start. Now let's start singling out the grim realities of the autism that is not profound, high functioning, they say, comparing to the one they show on BBC, where the kid wears a helmet, draws on walls and has a family liaison officer assigned to advocate on their behalf. It's sad, it's awful. The grimmest reality I saw in real life was the high functioning autist on steroids who was/is a true and proper psychopath, the Macbeth style. It's an unforgettable experience. Do something about these crazy people! I see the evidence they are highjacking our society.; 4/25/25, 1:53 PM
Ralph L said...: Last night I watched a selfie video of an AWFL in ecstasy over her son's renaming day. Kept the sound off to diminish my revulsion and anger. An autism diagnosis would be a less harmful badge of distinction, and the child can get extra time on exams. I hope that's part of the explosion of diagnoses, but let's see some data.; 4/25/25, 2:46 PM
Mason G said...: Suppose a link is found between vaccines and autism. What effect might that have on parents who had their kids vaccinated and who subsequently developed autism?; 4/25/25, 2:49 PM
Jupiter said...: "Suppose a link is found between vaccines and autism. What effect might that have on parents who had their kids vaccinated and who subsequently developed autism?"
It might well make them want to sue the doctors who gave the shot and the company that manufactured it. Why do you ask?; 4/25/25, 2:58 PM
Mason G said...: "It might well make them want to sue the doctors who gave the shot and the company that manufactured it. Why do you ask?"

Filing lawsuits in that event would seem to be a given. What would it be like for parents personally, though- recognizing that they're the ones who took their kids to get those shots? I'd think some of them would take that thought pretty hard.; 4/25/25, 3:20 PM
Tina Trent said...: That was an incredibly moving essay. Even if you hate the NYTimes, read it. My brother had an increasingly debilitating physical illness from infancy, and through him, I met and lobbied for and worked with many other people like him, and the sense of social isolation, misunderstanding, and pure loneliness they experienced can be as horrific as the disease itself. Fuck mainstreaming: we desperatively need a new narrative that validates and improves the lives of caretakers and people with socially alienating, severe conditions. I firmly believe my brother's life and social health would have been far better had he lived, at least part-time, in an institution with people just like him, rather than being pushed to being isolated in an anonymous apartment complex to prove his "independence" and calling ambulances, alone, whenever he had a medical crisis. It made it very hard to help him as he spiralled down. My parents would also have been spared a lot of horrors and fears while dying and leaving him alone.

Good for the people who have mild forms of autism and have the capacity and strength to achieve in the "normal" world. They're tough. But the loneliness of the others cannot be denied.

One thing I've always hated about hospitals is how the chronically ill are warehoused there, while in the next room, people with a broken leg or something else transient have rooms filled with visitors, flowers, and laughter. The world of the chronically debilitated is in an entirely different universe. The ADA may have done more harm than good for the truly disabled.; 4/25/25, 4:23 PM
Tina Trent said...: @meep: try to find the best institution possible. You can't do it alone, and the three of you deserve a life. Sometimes, it doesn't get better. Church helps. So does compromise.; 4/25/25, 4:38 PM
Tina Trent said...: Um, fuck you, Gadfly. If you were in punching range right now, I have a lot of unresolved anger.; 4/25/25, 4:43 PM
Karen of Texas said...: "that they're the ones who took their kids to get those shots? I'd think some of them would take that thought pretty hard"

I absolutely believe this to be true. I base that on a friend who's twin boy is autistic - 21, functioning but lives at home and will never yada, yada - and a conversation once upon a time was basically "can't imagine him any other way and wishing for a cure is like denying who he really is and not accepting him for who he is..." She has mental health issues herself and is a left of center, all the causes supporter.

See also Peter Hotez. No way that bow tie wearing nimrod would ever accept something like vaccines causing or contributing to his child's autism. He's rabidly pro-vaccine and virulent dismissive of a connection.; 4/25/25, 4:55 PM
Mason G said...: "He's rabidly pro-vaccine and virulent dismissive of a connection."

Covid caused the same reaction in a lot of people.; 4/25/25, 5:16 PM
Gospace said...: Which is more dangerous to a pre-teen- getting a measles shot or getting the measles? If the child is in good physical shape- and getting all the proper nutrients- it's possible getting the vaccination is more dangerous.

Seems when you start investigating deaths from measles, the deaths are actually from something else the child had, and measles was an added complication.

For children who have had measles, I see no studies showing the protection ever wanes. For vaccinations- there's lots of studies showing it does.

I had measles. It wasn't too miserable. I also had chickenpox, which is much worse, mumps, about which I remember little, and rubella, which was a couple of days off from school.

I never had whooping cough. The vaccine was part of my childhood. But 2 of my vaccinated children did. Seems vaccination on that wanes. And it really moves around in child care centers. My children caught it in school. Now the death rate on that is interesting- 0.8% in infants< 6 months old. Nothing published for anyone older. There appears to be death rate from the vaccination itself: Results:
After PV was introduced in the states, 45 million infants received DTP vaccination and 25 million received PV. There were 217 deaths within 72 h after DTP was administered and 237 following PV. There were 4.8 deaths per million vaccinated with DTP (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.2–5.5) and 9.6 deaths (95% CI: 8.4–10.8) per million vaccinated with PV (odds ratio 1.98 (95% CI 1.65-2.38) There were 4.7 additional deaths (95% CI: 3.5–5.9), per million, vaccinated with PV instead of DTP (P < 0.0001). That death rate is much less then whooping cough. Another number: According to a 2024 provisional CDC report, more than 7% of children between 6 months old and 6 years old who developed whooping cough were unvaccinated. This is much higher than any figure recorded since at least 2021 So 93% of cases were within the vaccinated population... Suddenly you need a whole bunch more numbers to evaluate- is the vaccination worthwhile? Looks like the answer may be no.

Smallpox vaccine? Yes. Smallpox has a few varieties, some far more deadly, and all varieties can lead to permanent disfigurement. And it's effective. And smallpox vaccine can be weaponized. Even though it's been wiped out in the wild (we think) we should have a stockpile of smallpox vaccine. And all military should still get it, and any adult who asks for it.

One vaccine I'm dead set against giving infants- HEP B. Look at how it's transmitted- then ask "WTH are we giving it to infants for?" Healthcare workers, WWTP operators, and other at risk groups. Not even everyone.

But there does need to be a total fresh evaluation and reset on who should receive what vaccines and when.; 4/25/25, 5:22 PM
Tom T. said...: I've seen charts showing that diagnoses of mental retardation have fallen in the same way diagnoses of autism have risen. It suggests that what's changed is the classification of children with severe difficulties. On the mildest end of the spectrum, I suspect there are a lot of parents who push for those diagnoses so as to get accommodations in school.; 4/25/25, 5:23 PM
Josephbleau said...: The autism industry exists to allow the legal production of speed, the old amphetamine. Once speed is ok for kids who don’t focus it is ok for everyone. It is true that kids who take a hit of speed do better on tests.; 4/25/25, 5:44 PM
Tina Trent said...: Can we stop talking about vaccines for a minute and consider the human conditions of a life? My brother wasn't autistic. There are millions of people watching their children age and die. Can we address that? There obviously needs to be a course correction in medical research, but as a medical historian, I suspect everyone's opinion has some truth to it. Now let's be humane to the people suffering, and neither judge nor gloat. Ironically, that is the path for the know-it-alls to get their distanced indulgences addressed anyway.

Get over yourselves, kiss the earth if your kids are healthy, and if you want to stop politicizing medical research, stop trying to politicize it for your own pleasure too. Jesus wept.; 4/25/25, 5:50 PM
bagoh20 said...: Does every story include the obligatory "I don't like Trump". I imagine people ordering dinner and making sure to notify the waiter.; 4/25/25, 7:10 PM
Kirk Parker said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/25, 8:37 PM
Kirk Parker said...: D&PS,

> Covid proved to me that "experts" can't be trusted with unlimited power in these things...

They can't even be trusted with moderate power.; 4/25/25, 8:37 PM
Jeff said...: There doesn't seem to be much evidence that vaccines cause autism, but there is a great deal,of evidence showing that older parents are more likely to have autistic offspring. The effect is stronger for fathers than it is for mothers. One theory is that this happens because male sperm cells divide more often than female egg cells do, so as we age sperm cells acquire moremharmful mutations; 4/25/25, 10:01 PM
Jeff said...: (Lost my comment somehow in the middle of writing it, and lo! It magically was posted. I hate blogger.) I find it interesting that everyone wants to blame vaccines rather than changes in when and how we reproduce for something that is clearly genetic in origin.; 4/25/25, 10:05 PM