RFK Jr. claims new research effort will find cause of ‘autism epidemic’ by September
RFK Jr. claims new research effort will find cause of ‘autism epidemic’ by September | CNN
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Does feel like the subtext is that autistic people are inherently broken and need to be fixed. Though I wish I could pin down exactly what problem they have with autistic people. A perceived lack of masculine confidence? (I guarantee they don't think about autistic women at all)
I guess they just see them as easy targets.
Also, consider not publicly referring to yourself as autistic and learning to mask if you haven't already.
Right wing ideologies depend on attacking minorities to distract from the fact they do nothing to benefit regular people.
who has a problem with autistic people? The self-diagnosed US CEO is autistic and it's just fine.
It's the way people keep bringing it up. Like my mom, who I'm pretty sure doesn't even know anyone who is autistic. But she continually wonders why there are "so many of them now," as if it's a problem. She doesn't consistently bring up any other societal issues such as, why are there so many traffic accidents or increases in cancer diagnoses (although she does bring up increased crime even though it hasn't actually increased). I just can't fathom why she worries so much about autism when her life isn't affected by it whatsoever.
I think that they have to bring it up constantly now. The right always needs a scapegoat and/or excuse for their reprehensible behavior. Musk knew better than to give a nazi salute but didn't care because he is a piece of shit. I'm not qualified to make the call whether he is autistic or not and frankly it doesn't even matter. AFAIK autistic people aren't running around making nazi salutes.
At first I think the party was worried that it was a step too far. Since they don't know or care to know about autism saw that as the easiest excuse. It worked because they'll never question it. They want to be told what to think and do. They will go the rest of their lives thinking that they're supporting autism by not being angry about Musk. And the nazis in the Republican party will use that to teir advantage.
But he has money so he is just eccentric.
The problem seems to come from over obsessed mothers, who are probably on the spectrum themselves, trying to explain why their kids are weird in a way that doesn't blame them.
Exactly. Instead vaccines are to blame. Radio waves are to blame. Not enough holistic living and not using essential oils for everything is to blame.
In their minds now there is no treatment too far over the top no matter how it harms their child.
Imagine what they could justify if they decide to pretend that autism is contagious
They could even make a vaccine for it! And you know dangerous vaccines are, they can even cause autism!
it feels like Hans all over again :/
Like, you mean that people with autism might be negatively-impacted in some way? I haven't been following the whole RFK thing, but from what I have read, I don't think that he's been upset at people with autism or said that being around people with autism is an issue. He's just promoted a really bad take spawned by a claim from Andrew Wakefield that combining certain vaccines rather than taking them separately could cause autism.
Like, the risk here is that he's going to use his influential position to encourage people to not be vaccinated, and that that is going to cause a lot of deaths and harm from disease when vaccine use falls off.
The idea that vaccines cause autism and therefore we shouldn’t give vaccines inherently implies that autism is a worse scenario than any of the diseases vaccines protect against. We have a measles epidemic killing children, and people would still prefer to not vaccinate because of a fear of autism.
If people think having a dead child is better than having an autistic child, that doesn’t bode well for autistic folks.
The government is laying the groundwork for reestablishing federal mental institutions while also putting a fresh target on autism. This is manufacturing consent to expand the group of others. First they came for the immigrants, and I did not speak up... You know the poem. The outgroup is ever-growing and it starts when they put you under a microscope
The stories I could tell you from my time as a caregiver for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities...
::: TW: neglect, abuse, SA
Here is a link to a lawsuit against Clover Bottom Mental Hospital, which was one of these institutions. The lawsuit happened in 1993. This was not that long ago.
"At the defendant state institutions, plaintiffs spend their days waiting out the hours. They sprawl in ill-fitting wheelchairs or carts. They are parked in dayrooms or hallways unattended, or are left alone in their rooms. Many plaintiffs languish in hospital beds or cribs, with no stimulation except when they are changed or fed. Others are left in wheelchairs, unattended for hours, with no stimulation or human contact available to them."
"Plaintiffs' basic care needs are ignored; they are left alone for hours. Clover Bottom residents in diapers are often wet, their clothes soaked through with urine."
"Defendants have failed to protect residents of the institutions from physical abuse and neglect."
"Verbal abuse is widespread. Staff at Clover Bottom use abrupt, verbal commands to communicate with residents; often, they scream at them."
There is so much more, and so much worse. The thing is, some of these folks are still alive, and still members of our community, and they still have the evidence of this ongoing trauma writ large. The current system isn't ideal. There's never enough care, and the people who are providing care are often under-trained and under-paid and over-worked. But at least it's better than this.
ETA: I had to come back and add: I left out all the sexual abuse. There was... a lot. There's evidence. It's mentioned in that lawsuit but there are stories I can't bring myself to tell. :::
They'd murder autistic people if they thought they could get away with it.
He's talked about forcing people with "mental issues" into "wellness centers" where they "go outside and garden."
Read: send them to fucking work camps.
Well, someone's gotta harvest the crops now that all the migrants are in the El Salvadoran gulag.
Would having an actual brain worm count as "mental issues?"
That poor thing has long died from malnourishment.
The thought of Kanye and Elon in a work camp, though....
It sounds like he was advocating for creating drug addiction treatment facilities.
What's True:
Kennedy said he would create rehabilitation wellness farms where people with drug-related issues (including with psychiatric drugs) can go for a program of rehabilitation that would include job training and growing organic food for their own consumption.
What's False:
However, contrary to how some people interpreted his words, Kennedy did not say or imply anyone would be "sent" to such locations against their will.
"I'm going to create remotely located work camps and starve people there if they can't grow 'organic food', but they'll be voluntary! Promise!"
"There's an epidemic of autism, but I'm not going to force a 'cure' on anybody! Promise!"
Like, he hasn't said it explicitly yet, but it's a pretty obvious next step if he's ever so inclined, and it's not like this administration would stop him
This is the same regime that's trying to define gay and trans people as mentally ill. The fascist intentions are clear. Their policies don't deserve a charitable reading.