I’ve lived near 50 years on this strange, gorgeous planet with a brain that’s never fit inside a box. Over the decades, I’ve been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, ADD, ADHD, Autism, and a handful of other neuro-spicy flavors—depending on the decade, the DSM edition, or the clinician. I’ve spent years misunderstood, mislabeled, and pathologized. But through it all, I’ve come to know one thing for certain:
My mind is not a mistake.
So when Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—a man with political power and a name heavy with legacy—steps onto the public stage and calls people like me a “problem” to be solved, an “epidemic” to be stopped, or a tragedy to be pitied, I don’t just take offense.
I burn.
And you should too.
Because beneath the polished soundbites and faux concern, what RFK Jr. is peddling is not science. It’s not compassion. It’s a retrograde stew of misinformation, fear, and stigma—served cold to the very community he claims to care about.
Let’s Break Down the Claims—And Burn Them With Truth
CLAIM 1: “Autism is an epidemic caused by environmental toxins.”
FACT: The rise in autism diagnoses has everything to do with how we diagnose—not some secret poison hiding in the air or vaccines.
The CDC, American Psychological Association, and BMJ all confirm that increased awareness, broader criteria, and diagnostic substitution explain the rise.
A 2011 BMJ study showed how kids previously diagnosed with intellectual disability or language delay are now rightly recognized as autistic.
Autism isn’t spreading like a virus. We’re finally seeing it. Recognizing it. Naming it.
To call that an 'epidemic' is to frame visibility itself as disease.
CLAIM 2: “I’ll find the environmental cause of autism by September.”
FACT: Autism isn’t a single-cause condition. It’s a complex, multi-layered spectrum shaped mostly by genetics, and secondarily by nuanced prenatal and perinatal factors.
A JAMA Psychiatry study involving over 2 million children found that 64–91% of autism risk is heritable.
There is no single environmental cause, no ticking toxin RFK Jr. is going to heroically discover.
To make promises like that is scientifically absurd and ethically bankrupt—a snake oil pitch in the age of precision medicine.
CLAIM 3: “Children with autism will never work, play baseball, or use the toilet alone.”
FACT: This isn’t just false—it’s cruel.
Autistic people are not a monolith. Some need significant support. Others are artists, parents, scientists, engineers, athletes. Many of us move between those poles across a lifetime.
The CDC highlights that with early support, many autistic people thrive independently.
Studies like Wehman et al. (2014) show that employment, higher ed, and independent living are not only possible—they’re common when systems provide the support they should.
To reduce every autistic life to helplessness is dehumanizing. It isn’t empathy—it’s erasure.
CLAIM 4: “Vaccines cause autism.”
FACT: This is a lie that has already hurt too many.
A 2019 Annals of Internal Medicine study followed 657,000 Danish children and found zero connection between vaccines and autism.
The infamous 1998 Wakefield paper that launched the vaccine myth? Fully retracted. Wakefield lost his license for fraud.
Every legitimate medical institution on Earth—from the WHO to the NIH, CDC, and UNICEF—states plainly: Vaccines do not cause autism.
This lie kills. It has fueled vaccine hesitancy, disease outbreaks, and dangerous conspiracy movements. And RFK Jr., despite knowing better, won’t stop repeating it.
A Track Record of Misinformation
RFK Jr. didn’t just stumble onto a bad take about autism. He’s spent decades promoting conspiracies that erode public trust in science and harm the most vulnerable among us.
Here’s a quick tour of some of his most dangerous, easily disproven claims:
“Mercury in vaccines causes autism.”
Thimerosal was removed from nearly all childhood vaccines in 2001. Autism rates? Still rising. No link. No accountability.“The COVID vaccine is the deadliest vaccine ever made.”
Flatly disproven by CDC and international data. The real killer has been disinformation, not vaccination.“HIV doesn’t cause AIDS.”
He’s floated this one too—contradicting a mountain of virological evidence and re-traumatizing communities who fought to be heard in the first place.“Wi-Fi causes cancer.”
A fear-fueled claim with zero credible scientific backing. Multiple large-scale reviews (FDA, NCI) have refuted it.
This isn’t about one mistake. It’s about a decades-long campaign of anti-science rhetoric, sold with the language of freedom and parental concern but driven by ego, power, and clickbait relevance.
This Isn’t About “Concern”—It’s About Control
RFK Jr.’s crusade isn’t about helping autistic people. It’s about reshaping public fear into political power. It’s about posing as a savior to desperate parents by scapegoating science and erasing neurodivergent voices.
But let me say this loud for the people in the back:
I do not need to be cured.
I do not need your pity, your promise to “solve” me, or your messiah complex. What I need—and what every autistic person deserves—is:
Dignity.
Access.
Support.
Acceptance without condition.
We need society to evolve its understanding, not fund wild goose chases for chemical villains while slashing resources that actually help.
What Autism Really Is
Autism is not a defect.
It’s not a tragedy.
It’s not a ticking time bomb in your child.
It is a different way of processing the world. Sometimes harder. Sometimes richer. Often both at once.
I’ve raised a daughter in that understanding. I’ve lived a life reflecting deeply on consciousness, creativity, and what it means to think differently—not worse, not broken, just different.
To RFK Jr., I Say This:
You are not helping.
You are exploiting.
You are using the same rhetoric once used to marginalize gay people, people with disabilities, and people of color—dressing fear up as science, when it’s just bigotry in a lab coat.
If you want to serve the public, start by listening to those you claim to help.
Listen to the autistic scientists.
To the neurodivergent parents.
To the thousands of voices saying:
“We’re not your enemy, and we’re not your experiment. We’re people.”
Also, fuck you.
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