RFK Jr.'s Shocking Stance on Autism

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has made many puzzling statements about health policy over the years (BBC Verify Team, 2024). Among his infamous and oft-repeated claims is that autism is closely linked to childhood vaccinations (BBC Verify Team, 2024). However, all good scientists know that this claim is patently false. Despite Kennedy’s unremitting insistence to the contrary, years of rigorous research have yielded widespread consensus in the scientific community that autism is not caused by vaccines (Demicheli et al., 2012; DeStefano, 2002; DeStefano & Shimabukuro, 2019; Hviid et al., 2019; Mohammed et al., 2022; L. E. Taylor et al., 2014). Yet Kennedy remains undeterred. With his powerful new government appointment, RFK's stance is proving extremely costly: He recently decreed that he would spend taxpayer money to reinvestigate and relitigate settled science on the "environmental" (a.k.a. "vaccine") causes of autism (Stein & Wroth, 2025). While the government cuts scientific funding almost everywhere else (Wadman, 2025), Kennedy is wasting precious time and resources on discredited fringe theories.

To add insult to injury, this week, RFK spoke about autism in ways that are not only inaccurate and stigmatizing but also demeaning and paternalistic. As he put it:

Autism destroys families, and more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. These are children who should not be suffering like this. 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.

Kennedy may be ginning up support for his anti-vaccine position by diminishing those with autism, erroneously portraying them as dysfunctional invalids. It is an odd way to "assist" them.

The criteria for autism in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed., text revision; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2022) are not limited to the relatively small percentage of people whose symptoms are so severe that they are unable to care for themselves. On the contrary, most people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder are highly functional; they are neurodivergent, not mentally disordered. Kennedy's dehumanizing portrayal makes them unrecognizable. His protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, many people with autism spectrum diagnoses do indeed pay taxes and hold down jobs. Some even play baseball and/or write poems. For better or worse, they inhabit a world where diagnostic identities often dominate (Singh, 2024), yet this does not necessitate demeaning them and wrongly portraying them in the stark terms Kennedy invokes.

Contrary to what Kennedy says, the current diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder include not just severe cases but also all those that used to fall under the now defunct milder diagnosis of Asperger's disorder. That is the very reason why the official diagnosis is called autism spectrum disorder; those diagnosed with it fall along a spectrum, from mild to severe. Thus, the rising number of diagnoses is partly explained by changing diagnostic conceptions. It is also explained by greater awareness, leading to fewer cases flying under the radar. It is not because of vaccines.

To sum up:

1. RFK's crusade against vaccines is scientifically suspect.
2. People on the autism spectrum are best thought of as different, not disordered. Like all of us, with love and support, they lead happy and healthy lives.
3. RFK's characterization of those with autism as utterly dysfunctional is demeaning and dangerous. Autism occurs on a spectrum and most people carrying the diagnosis live productive lives, even when they require services and support. Kennedy's pathologization of those with autism obscures the inaccuracy of his broader views on vaccinations.

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