Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has recently initiated the national autism registry in the name of helping the autistic community. RFK is the same notorious politician who once implied autism is a “treatable disease” rather than a genetic condition.
Kennedy is an avid supporter of the anti-vaccine conspiracy theory, and he has now added autism to the list of “side effects” caused by it. Given the sheer ignorance and carelessness in talking about an entire group of affected people, it is hard to believe that RFK’s autism registry is intended for the well-being of autistic individuals.
Is Being Autistic in the U.S. Considered a Crime Now?
The primary source of RFK’s autism registry is private U.S. healthcare data. Health care experts have strongly negated Kennedy’s statement about autism being a treatable disease. They have clearly stated that there is no known source of autism, and it is part of the genetic composition of the unborn baby.
This registry is being compiled by the National Institute of Health using federal databases, private insurance claims, prescription data from pharmacies, smart watch data and a genomics report from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
This initiative has gathered considerable support from Trump and his administration. This is not a huge surprise given that Trump only recently claimed that the cases of autism were rising and directly linked it to vaccinations. Despite evidence shared by healthcare institutes that it is the improvement in the screening process that has led to the rise in autism cases, the Trump administration refuses to pay heed to it.
The Future Looks Grim for Individuals with Autism in the U.S.
RFK Jr. is the 26th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, who on April 13th stated that autism destroys families. It is alarming for a politician in considerable power to see autistic individuals as non-productive members of society, unable to pay taxes and dependent on others for basic daily tasks like going through the bathroom.
While there may be certain unfortunate cases of autism where this is true, there are a substantial number of individuals leading relatively normal lives despite being autistic. Whether it is reducing autistic individuals to a stereotypical definition or gaining access to their private medical data, both reek of malicious intent.
Even though a direct parallel cannot be drawn between this initiative and the Nazi’s Eugenics policy in World War II it is still reflective of a future in which the U.S. will become less accepting of autistic individuals and may even implement policies to sidelines them from mainstream jobs.
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