Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. − who has long spread debunked claims surrounding autism and vaccines − suggested compensating families of some Americans with autism, calling them “injured.”
“Bottom line, the more than 25% of people who have severe autism will never go on a date, write a poem, live independently, or have a job,” Kennedy said in an April 18 social media post. “We need to identify the exposures that are causing this epidemic and compensate the families of the injured.”
USA TODAY has reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services for more information.
The post comes after Kennedy during his first official press conference on April 16 said that some kids diagnosed with autism will “never play baseball” or “write a poem.”
“They’ll never go out on a date,” he continued. “Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
Though some applauded Kennedy’s push for answers, the comments drew wide-reaching accusations of ableism from many Americans with autism, their loved ones and advocacy groups.
Autism spectrum disorder is diagnosed based on challenges with social skills, communication and repetitive behaviors. It is a spectrum, meaning symptoms vary widely, with a percentage unable to communicate at all and others highly successful in some areas of life.
Kennedy later clarified in an appearance on Fox News that he was referring to a specific quarter of those diagnosed with autism.
“There are many kids with autism who are doing well. They’re holding down jobs, they’re getting pay checks, they’re living independently,” Kennedy said. “But I was referring specifically to that 25 percent—the group that is nonverbal.”
Some people with autism spectrum disorder have more severe behaviors, which could include self-harm, such as biting or head-banging, according to the Mayo Clinic. Others with autism may be non-verbal. The National Autism Association estimates that around 40% of children diagnosed with autism do not speak.
Kennedy has promised to determine the cause of autism, telling President Donald Trump in an April 10 Cabinet meeting the government will know the answer by September.
More: RFK Jr. says government to launch new studies on link between toxins, autism amid pushback
“We’re gonna announce a series of new studies to identify precisely what the environmental toxins are that are causing it,” he said during his press conference last week. “This has not been done before.”
“This is coming from an environmental toxin and somebody made it and put that environmental toxin into our air or water or medicines or food,” Kennedy also said during the press conference at the Department of Health and Human Services’ headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Researchers have been looking into the causes of autism for decades; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that some people with autism spectrum disorder have a genetic condition, but other causes are not yet known.
The CDC also says many studies have looked at whether there is a connection between vaccines and autism and “to date, the studies continue to show that vaccines are not associated with autism.”
In an April 15 report, the CDC found that in 2022, one in 31 children were diagnosed with autism by age 8 in the U.S., an uptick from one in 36 children in 2020. The prevalence of autism among boys was one in 20 and the 2022 rate is five times higher than it was in 2000.
Many researchers attribute the rise in diagnoses to more widespread screening and the inclusion of a broader range of behaviors to describe the condition.
(This story has been updated to correct a misspelling/typo.)
Contributing: Alyssa Goldberg, Clare Mulroy, Leora Arnowitz and Adrianna Rodriguez
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: RFK Jr. suggests compensating families of some people with autism
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