Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has delivered a bizarre speech about children with autism, claiming they will “never pay taxes, never hold a job” and many will “never use a toilet unassisted.”
The US secretary of state for health and human services was speaking at a press conference on Wednesday after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the number of American children with autism was continuing to rise.
Kennedy told reporters that he believed the rise in cases was an “individual tragedy” and that autism “destroys families” and “destroys children.”
He continued: “These are children who should not be suffering like this. These are kids who many of them were fully functional and regressed because of some environmental exposure into autism under two years old.
“And 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. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
Reacting to the footage, one person it exposed Kennedy’s “warped beliefs,” adding that his comments were “insane.”
RFK Jr, who is no stranger to spouting conspiracy theories and unfounded health claims, has previously made completely unfounded claims that the rising numbers of children with autism is an epidemic caused by an ‘environmental toxin.’
Experts dispute the idea that the condition is becoming more widespread, with the rise in cases instead down to the uptick in cases to improved diagnostics.
Autism cannot be spread or ‘caught’ as it is a neurological condition, and there is no evidence of any ‘toxin’ spreading the condition.
Of course, autism is a spectrum and some people with the condition will require more support than others. However, many people with autism need little or no assistance in their day to day lives.
It is widely acknowledged that neurodivergence is something that should be celebrated and valued in society.
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