Tag: autism
At First HHS Press Conference, Kennedy Enrages Autism Families With Falsehoods

At First HHS Press Conference, Kennedy Enrages Autism Families With Falsehoods

Conducting his first press conference as secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. moved swiftly to demonstrate yet again why he is so unfit for that critical cabinet post.

In one of many egocentric abuses of his newfound power, Kennedy has directed his department’s resources away from vital research on cancer and Alzheimer’s, among other major diseases, initiating instead a massive effort to discover an environmental cause of autism – which reflects his own obsession more than sound science.

But leaving aside the gross mismanagement of HHS, the National institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration and the many other agencies whose capacity for good he is rapidly destroying, Kennedy went out of his way on Wednesday to stigmatize the autistic children he is supposed to be helping.

"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,” Kennedy intoned, gravely and inanely. “Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”

This broad-brush smearing of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder was both damaging and grossly inaccurate. There is a reason why scientists and doctors use the word “spectrum” to describe what is a very broad category that ranges from those who require intensive care and assistance to those who are fully autonomous and indeed display extremely high levels of intellectual capacity and talent in many fields.

Perhaps Kennedy should have a word with his fellow Trump henchman Elon Musk. Americans have at least vaguely understood the wide variations in autism ever since the tech zillionaire revealed his own childhood diagnosis on various platforms, including a monologue on Saturday Night Live and a TED talk. For all his egregious faults and fascistic inclinations, Musk does appear able to toilet himself and to get a few dates. He may or may not be able to write a poem but produces an alarming number of deceptive “Xeets" on his social media site X.

As for Kennedy himself, there will be much more to say about his grimly incompetent and ruinous stewardship of the public health institutions that his family – and especially his late uncle Sen. Edward Kennedy – helped build into exemplars of American greatness.

For the moment, let’s note that contrary to his suggestion, millions of autistic human beings around the world and in America go to work every day. They contribute to society by creating value in myriad ways, the least of which is their payment of taxes. They go on dates, fall in love, nurture families, and some of them not only can hit a baseball but are top athletes, including an Olympic snowboarder and a Division One basketball player. (I happen to know an autistic young woman who was the star of her Little League softball team.)

While acknowledging that some autistic kids are burdened with the disabilities recited by Kennedy, let’s also note that the great majority of our autistic fellow Americans, unlike him, have never lapsed into heroin addiction for a decade or more; never peddled narcotics to fellow students; never serially betrayed their spouses with humiliating adulteries; never abused animals in public displays of weirdness; never injected themselves with overdoses of steroids; never profited from lethal disinformation about a pandemic; and never, ever blamed their own bad conduct on a hungry brain worm. He has prospered and risen the same way he avoided prison and got the medical care he needed, strictly by accident of birth.

The more we learn about Kennedy, who has veered further and further away from his once-illustrious career as an environmental advocate, the less there is to admire. Were his story not so sad, Bobby Junior would be a classic caricature -- the buffoonish nob whose inherited wealth and status catapulted him into a position for which he lacks essential knowledge, experience, and character.

Now he has showed us again how Trump cheated the nation by elevating him to this position of trust, at the expense of vulnerable children and their families.

Joe Conason is founder and editor-in-chief of The National Memo. He is also editor-at-large of Type Investigations, a nonprofit investigative reporting organization formerly known as The Investigative Fund. He is the author of several books, including The Raw Deal: How The Bush Republicans Plan To Destroy Social Security and the Legacy of the New Deal. His latest book is The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism.

David Geier autism

RFK Jr. Hires Weird Anti-Vax Activist To 'Analyze' HHS Data On Autism

The Department of Health and Human Services has hired anti-vaccine activist David Geier to analyze government data in search of thoroughly debunked links between immunizations and childhood autism.

Geier, who holds a bachelor’s degree in biology, has spent decades pushing discredited theories linking vaccines to autism. Geier and his father Mark Geier have long been known for peddling bad science, with the scientific journal Nature even naming them among the world’s top science deniers in 2010.

More than a decade ago, Geier was charged with practicing medicine without a license, while his father’s medical license was suspended for treating autistic children with the reckless “Lupron protocol,” which involves a drug used to treat prostate cancer and in chemical castration of sex offenders.

Geier’s new role within HHS signals another win for the anti-vaccine movement—and a loss for public health.

“This is a worst-case scenario for public health. It’s a slap in the face to the decades of actual credible research we have,” Jessica Steier, a public health researcher who leads the Science Literacy Lab, told the Washington Post.

Despite having his access to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revoked in 2004, Geier will now be given multiple sets of CDC data on vaccine safety.

During HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Senate confirmation hearings, Democratic lawmakers highlighted his inadequacy to lead the country’s public health agencies.

Now, his mismanagement of the ongoing measles outbreak, unconscionable reductions to the federal health services workforce, and hiring of Geier prove that he is a danger to public health.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Trump Touts Polio Shot, Then Falsely Links Vaccines To Autism

Trump Touts Polio Shot, Then Falsely Links Vaccines To Autism

During a Monday press conference, President-elect Donald Trump told reporters that despite concerns over Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his anti-vaccine pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, the polio vaccine is safe.

“You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine. That’s not going to happen,” Trump said. “I saw what happened with polio. I have friends that were very much affected by that. I have friends from many years ago, and .. they’re still in not such good shape because of it,” the 78-year-old added.

The topic was raised due to reports that Kennedy’s lawyer filed a petition for the Food and Drug Administration to revoke approval of the polio vaccine. The deadly viral disease has impacted 12 million people worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease control, and an estimated 300,000 Americans are still living with mild to severe symptoms including fatigue, muscle weakness, and pain.

Kennedy will be on Capitol Hill this week to meet with senators and shore up support for upcoming confirmation hearings for his proposed role in Trump’s Cabinet. According to The Wall Street Journal, the notorious vaccine skeptic plans to downplay the topic entirely despite his public, controversial, and debunked views on vaccines and their effects. Kennedy will reportedly also promote Trump’s views on abortion and “talk up healthy food preventing chronic disease.”

Trump did express his long-standing skepticism about vaccine mandates during Monday’s press conference and promoted the false claim of a link between vaccines and autism.

“I don’t like mandates. I’m not a big mandate person,” Trump said. “You take a look at autism today versus 20, 25 years ago, it’s like, not even believable. So we’re going to have reports.”

When Time magazine named Trump “Person of the Year” on December 12, the accompanying interview noted that he and Kennedy Jr. would have a “big discussion” about child vaccines, and he claimed that “the autism rate is at a level that nobody even believed possible.”

Scientific research has debunked any association between vaccines and autism numerous times over the years.

Despite the overwhelming scientific consensus, the supposed link between vaccines and autism remains a prominent point of contention for some crunchy to alt-right talking heads, with Trump and Kennedy among the most high-profile proponents of the debunked theory. Trump’s newest comments are likely to fuel the debate further, especially as vaccine hesitancy continues to rise.

This could have lasting implications on future public health policy, especially in the context of emerging diseases and the ongoing fight against COVID-19.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Far-Right Pastor Enrages Parents With 'Autism Is Demonic' Sermon

Far-Right Pastor Enrages Parents With 'Autism Is Demonic' Sermon

Last Wednesday, Pastor Rick Morrow of Beulah Church in Richland, Missouri ignited fury when he asserted in a sermon that autism was the result of demonic forces corrupting children's minds.

"I know a minister who has seen lots of kids that are autistic, that he cast that demon out, and they were healed, and then he had to pray and their brain was rewired and they were fixed," Morrow said. "Yeah, I just went there. I mean, you can get online and see lots of examples of it. If it's not demonic, then we have to say God made them that way. Like, that's the only other explanation."

Morrow continued, 'Why [does] my kid have autism?' Well, either the devil's attacked them, he's brought this infirmity upon them, he's got them where he wants them, and/or God just doesn't like 'em very much and he made 'em that way. Well, my God doesn't make junk. God doesn't make mess-ups. God doesn't make people that way."

According to Hemant Mehta of Friendly Atheist, who helped Morrow's remarks receive public attention, "infuriated people in the community, some of whom have children with autism and have no trouble reconciling it with their faith." Mehta pointed out that the "sentiment was shared by many people who commented under the church's video on Facebook, with responses ranging from 'This whole congregation needs to run away' to 'I'm embarrassed this is in our community.'"

Mehta noted at the time that "one Missouri mother was so upset about his sermon that she reached out to Morrow personally to tell him how her son, who has autism, is a blessing. She explained that he doesn’t have an 'illness.' Rather, he's a 'brilliant child' who simply communicates differently. She also asked Morrow if he felt the same way about children with Down syndrome. He said that, too, was Satan's fault."

Mehta stressed that "Morrow isn't merely some random ignorant pastor. He's also a school board member for the Stoutland R-II School District. This guy oversees education for public school students, at least some of whom we have to assume are on the autism spectrum. That would mean he believes the devil has attacked all of them and the only way to handle those students is with prayer instead of therapy or academic intervention."

On Sunday, September 10th, Mehta updated that Morrow finally responded to the criticism that his beliefs received. But instead of making amends, Morrow doubled down.

"I made a statement Wednesday night talking about demons, and we're going to keep talking about them on Wednesday night. And I made a statement. I said, 'Let's talk about something demonic.' And I said, 'autism.' And then I said, 'God doesn't make junk,'" Morrow recalled. "Those of you that know me know that I love people and I would never say that people are junk. It has been perceived that I'm evil, that I am full of the devil, that I am possessed myself because I said kids with autism are junk. That's what has been perceived. What was intended was autism is junk. People that have it are loved by God and loved by me."

Mehta rejected Morrow's defense.

"Let me remind everyone that Morrow claimed kids with autism could be 'healed' with prayer," Mehta wrote. "That's a lie. He said that the only alternative to believing autism is caused by demons is saying, of children, 'God just doesn't like 'em very much and he made 'em that way.'"

Mehta added, "Oh. And he’s still on the local public school board."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Shop our Store

Headlines

Editor's Blog

Corona Virus

Trending

World