Thoughts on RFK Junior’s Ignorant Autism Comments

Oh RFK Junior, your ignorant comment about autism shows how the American govt. Dehumanizes autistic people.

So yesterday I was doing my data analyst course, and I came across this story about RFK making comments about autism. I ended up finding out that RFK had the audacity to claim that autistic people wouldn’t be able to work, pay taxes, go on a date, and a few other “social status” superficial items that RFK Junior claims autistic people need to have to have human value. He also mentioned that autism destroys families and child’s lives.

I’ll admit my initial reaction to this was to do a note claiming what I can do as an autistic person. This was to prove him wrong essentially and to show that autistic people can do these things. However, upon more reflection into this issue and hearing feedback from other autistic creators RFK Junior’s comments are bigger than me and go beyond my personal experience.

The truth is there are many autistics out there who can’t work or go on dates or do the other things that RFK Junior was claiming. As a low support autistic, I do have certain privileges in being able to enjoy and do things that other autistic people can’t do. I do want to acknowledge that privilege that I do have to be able to hold down a job or go on a date.

I am realizing now it’s imperative to give weight and importance to the many autistics with medium to higher level support needs who may not have the same level of privilege that I do. I’ll admit I don’t fully understand what it’s like to have more support needs as an autistic person. However, I want to make sure I am validating and holding space for those experiences. Not speaking on behalf of all autistics and learning from different autistics. I realize now that no matter our privileges, all autistics have inherent value!

Unfortunately, these comments by RFK Junior show that the american government dehumanizes autistic people. That autistic people are only valued by how well they can contribute to our screwed up capitalistic system. Of course, if we measure human worth by capitalism then of course autistic people will inevitably fall short. When capitalism isn’t built to help autistic people thrive, and arguably other marginalized groups as well.

The question I ask to this though: Why does human value have to be directly tied to how much humans can produce? Why can’t humans have an inherent sense of self-worth and self-esteem not directly tied to how much we produce for capitalism? What’s wrong with embracing natural individual human differences?

Bottom line if you look under the surface RFK Junior’s comments about autism come from a deficit-based perspective and the assumption that autism is bad and needs to be broken. This belief ties into the medical model perspective of disability. If you are unfamiliar with that term, please use this link to check out an article, I did compare the social and medical model of disability. These comments dehumanize autistics and further contribute to narratives that autistic people are broken.

We need to shift the focus away from focusing on how to fix autistics to how we can support autistics to thrive and perform to their potential. Society can even go a step further and ask the question: What can we learn from autistic people? This can allow autistics to contribute their unique perspectives to society. We’re all different at the end of the day and those differences deserve to be cherished and valued no matter what!