RFK’s Autism “Study” & Nazi Eugenics
The Modern-Day Witch Hunt
Trigger Warning: racism, antisemitism, ableism, & violence
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) oversees 13 supporting agencies, including Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and National Institute of Health (NIH). In Part 1 of this podcast episode, we discussed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the problematic new Secretary of HHS under Donald Trump with a history of promoting dangerous conspiracy theories and pseudoscience. In a 2024 interview, for example, he falsely claimed, “‘Every Black kid is now just standard put on Adderall, SSRIs, benzos, which are known to induce violence.’” He went on to describe his “solution”: “‘those kids are going to have a chance to go somewhere and get re-parented,” which Jennifer Porter Gore of Word in Black says ‘raises troubling questions about how Kennedy views the intersection of race, medicine, and state power.’ Indeed, separating Black and brown families and “re-parenting" the children according to white standards—which has commonly involved neglect, abuse, and even murder—has been a feature of North American history, inflicted on Indigenous and Black/African communities for hundreds of years. This practice is part of a social philosophy known as eugenics, “The study or practice of attempting to improve the human gene pool by encouraging the reproduction of people considered to have desirable traits and discouraging or preventing the reproduction of people considered to have undesirable traits” (American Heritage Dictionary). According to NIH’s own National Human Genome Research Institute, ‘Eugenics is an immoral and pseudoscientific theory that claims it is possible to perfect people and groups through genetics and the scientific laws of inheritance.’
The Press Conference Heard Round the World
Nevertheless, since becoming head of HHS, RFK has doubled down on this type of dehumanizing rhetoric. During a press conference on April 16, he continued to indirectly push the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism. He stated contradictorily that “most cases now are severe–so about 25%” and inaccurately described autism as a “spectrum of injuries” and a “preventable disease.” Autism is actually classified as a complex disorder, not a disease (the full diagnostic term is Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD) (PBS). He also falsely claimed, ‘We know it’s an environmental exposure. It has to be. Genes do not cause epidemics. [...] we have to recognize we are doing this to our children, and we need to put an end to it.’’ In response to Kennedy’s press conference, the Autism Science Foundation released a statement stating that his remarks ‘contradicted the findings of a just released CDC report from its Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network (ADDM) that clearly stated – based on multiple data sources – that increased prevalence is a function of better screening and diagnosis, and access to services.’ They also refuted his inaccurate assertion that ‘environmental factors are the primary cause of autism. An overwhelming amount of evidence points to a genetic cause. In about 20% of autism cases, one genetic variant can explain autism features. In other cases, there may be multiple genetic mutations interacting to cause autism. In addition, we know autism runs in families. Siblings of a child with autism have a fifteen times greater likelihood of diagnosis, and nieces and nephews of a person with autism have a 3 times increased risk rate.’
In his eagerness to blame the rise in ASD diagnoses on modern “environmental toxins,” Kennedy also erased the existence of older autistic people, asking, ‘If the epidemic is an artifact, a better diagnostic criteria or better recognition, then why are we not seeing it in older people? [...] You can’t find them. They’re not in homes. There are no homes for them.’ Firstly, there are many adult autistic people with both low- and high-support needs. Those with low-support needs (commonly referred to as LSN) are often able to function well enough in society that others aren’t aware of their diagnoses, or more commonly for older adults, they may not even be diagnosed because the full spectrum of autism has only recently begun to be better understood. As for those with high-support needs (HSN), ‘“I would urge the HHS Secretary to come and meet my 61-year-old brother Steven, who was diagnosed with autism in 1969,” stated Autism Science Foundation President Alison Singer. “He currently lives in a group home with 5 other adult men with profound autism. Back in the 1970s, people with autism weren’t visible because, unfortunately, most of them were institutionalized.”’
Isn’t It Ironic…
The irony here should be obvious to those who know the dark history surrounding Kennedy’s aunt Rosemary, who was born a year after her brother John in 1918 and who many speculate could very well have been autistic. She spent her childhood peacefully enough despite intellectual and developmental delays, but as she grew older, her struggles became more difficult for the family to conceal: she didn’t understand why, as an adult, she couldn’t have the same freedom as her siblings. Her father became concerned that her public behavior could threaten the immaculate Kennedy image, so when she was 23, he had her forcibly lobotomized and institutionalized, where she languished until her death at 86. For many years, her disappearance from public life was left a mystery by the family, but several members seemed to eventually realize the injustice of her isolation. This began with her sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who often visited Rosemary at her group home in later years. To honor her sister, Shriver ‘expanded the philanthropy of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation towards public policy work and research relating to intellectual and developmental disabilities’ and also ‘founded Special Olympics in 1968.’ Rosemary’s mother, Rose Kennedy, spoke publicly about supporting people with special needs, and her brother John was the first president to ‘propose and sign major legislation to improve care programs for those with intellectual disabilities’ (John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site).
Perhaps RFK believes he is continuing his family’s good works, but if he would listen to the autistic community and those who have been conducting peer-reviewed research on ASD for decades, he would realize this is not what what most of us want or need. In his remarks, Kennedy opined, ‘This is an individual tragedy as well. Autism destroys families. More importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. [...] 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, and we have to recognize we are doing this to our children, and we need to put an end to it.’ Aside from making misleading generalizations that perpetuate the stigma already associated with ASD, linking the worth of individuals directly to their contribution to capitalism is dehumanization at its most insidious. Dr. Walter Zahorodny 20-year director of New Jersey’s mandatory autism surveillance system, also spoke at the press conference, affirming Kennedy’s assertion that autism “does change the family, and it does inevitably change the community and the society in which we find it,” but he and Kennedy do not seem to have considered the possibility that families and societies should adapt to better support and serve all its members, even those who challenge the status quo. Instead, they insist on using “cure language” which is incredibly harmful, as it implies that autistic people are a problem to be fixed rather than human beings with unique gifts and challenges. As autistic fourth-grader Teddy recently asserted in his speech to his New Jersey district’s school board, “I have autism and I’m not broken, and I hope that nobody in Princeton Public Schools believes RFK Jr.'s lies.”
Amy Gravino, an autism sexuality advocate at the Center for Adult Autism Services at Rutgers University who is herself autistic, agrees with Teddy. While it’s true that the rate of autism diagnosis in eight-year-olds has risen sharply between 2000 and 2022 based on data collected from 16 sites in the U.S., Gravino is concerned about the way that very specific subset of data is being extrapolated to “prove” the existence of an “industry canard” wherein “somebody made a profit by putting that environmental toxin into our air, our water, our medicines, our food,” as Kennedy claimed in his press conference. In particular, Gravino points to the historical ‘misdiagnoses and underdiagnoses of many women and girls, as well as many people of color’ as reasons to take the data with a grain of salt:
‘"I don't think it gives us the fullest picture of autism that we could have," she said. "It's a great statistic. You have to create this idea of panic, that there must be some kind of autism epidemic, but I don't know how you can call something an epidemic when we're talking about people who've always existed.
‘"We've always been here, even if we haven't been counted in the CDC prevalence rate throughout history. ... I would just love to see a fuller kind of picture of what autism actually is outside of one narrow presentation that applies to one narrow specific group of individuals”’ (Newsweek).
Differing Perspectives on Disability
This is a perfect encapsulation of the different ways society and individuals conceptualize disability and the effects those perspectives have on disabled people. In a piece featured on the American Psychological Association website, psychologist Rhonda Olkin describes three “models” for understanding and responding to disability:
‘In the moral model, disability is seen as having meaning about the person’s or the family’s character, deeds, thoughts, and karma. From this perspective, disability can carry stigma, shame and blame, particularly if the disability is seen as a mark of wrongdoing. Alternatively, disability can be seen as a sign of honor, faith or strength. For example, someone who is religious may believe they (or their family member) were chosen to have a disability due to God’s faith in them. Disability may also be perceived as a positive reminder of having survived a life challenge (e.g., a polio epidemic, or stepping on a land mine).’
‘In the medical model, disability is perceived as an impairment in a body system or function that is inherently pathological. From this perspective, the goal is to return the system or function to as close to “normal” as possible. The medical model suggests that professionals with specialized training are the “experts” in disability. Persons with disability are expected to follow the advice of these “experts.”’
‘In the social model, disability is seen as one aspect of a person’s identity, much like race/ethnicity, gender, etc. From this perspective, disability is believed to result from a mismatch between the disabled person and the environment (both physical and social). It is this environment that creates the handicaps and barriers, not the disability. From this perspective, the way to address disability is to change the environment and society, rather than people with disabilities. Negative stereotypes, discrimination and oppression serve as barriers to environmental change and full inclusion.’
The Registry
Kennedy and his associates obviously subscribe to the medical model, with a bit of the moral model thrown in. He is using misinformation and what he refers to as “epidemic denial” to justify conducting “a series of new studies” making use of “AI and […] the digitalization of health records and the mass of health records that are now available to us.” National Institute of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya confirmed that the agency would be ‘amassing private medical records from a number of federal and commercial databases to give to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new effort to study autism’:
‘Medication records from pharmacy chains, lab testing and genomics data from patients treated by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service, claims from private insurers and data from smartwatches and fitness trackers will all be linked together, he said.'
‘The NIH is also now in talks with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to broaden agreements governing access to their data, Bhattacharya said.
‘In addition, a new disease registry is being launched to track Americans with autism, which will be integrated into the data.’
(CBS News)
These plans have clearly already been in the works, as Kennedy appointed a man named David Geier to ‘lead a federal study on the causes of autism’ a month prior to the press conference. The kicker? Geier, who ‘has a bachelor's degree in biology, but no medical qualifications,’ ‘previously treated autistic children with puberty-blocking drug Lupron’ during a 2006 study he conducted with his father, Dr. Mark Geier. The Geiers attempted to patent the use of Lupron to treat autism, but their patent was denied and in 2011, the Maryland State Board of Physicians revoked Mark Geier’s medical license. David Geier was ‘sanctioned for practicing medicine without a license’ (Newsweek). These are the people we’re supposed to trust with our private medical records.
When Kennedy and Bhattacharya made their plans public, however, there was a huge public outcry at the alarming idea of using a registry to track Americans with autism. They quickly walked the announcement back, saying there would be ‘no new autism registry,’ but what many have failed to realize is that the CDC already has a ‘network’ for tracking autism called ADDM (Autism & Developmental Disabilities Monitoring), which is where much of the data Kennedy referenced in his press conference came from. In fact, your state may already be participating without you realizing it. According to the CDC’s ‘Tracking Methods for Autism Spectrum Disorder’ webpage,
‘Since the launch of the ADDM Network in 2000, CDC has funded 20 sites in areas of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas (two sites), Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. CDC also operates an additional ADDM site in Georgia. The ADDM Network tracks more than 250,000 8-year-old children and 250,000 4-year-old children. The ADDM Network is also following up on a cohort of 16-year-old children in select states. […]
‘ADDM Network sites access data through written agreements with state health departments, school districts, and early intervention providers. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs, Office of the General Counsel, and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services worked with CDC to create a data agreement form (known as a "Memorandum of Understanding" or MOU) that can be used by currently funded ADDM Network sites to access state education records.’
Katie’s home state of Minnesota is one of seven existing ADDM sites that ‘linked statewide health and education data for the first time to calculate statewide and county-level ASD estimates and compare results with more resource-intensive record review methods’ (CDC website). But try to click on the "Memorandum of Understanding” to find out whether personally-identifying information is included in the data these states provide the CDC, and you’ll get an error message. So federal government agencies already have agreements in place with at least seven states to use children’s medical and special education records for research without their families’ consent, and we don’t know exactly what information they have access to. Sounds an awful lot like the beginnings of a national autism registry, doesn’t it?
There are also mandatory autism registries in seven states, some of which overlap with ADDM sites: Indiana, North Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia track all residents diagnosed with autism. Rhode Island mandates that any child diagnosed with ASD before the age of five be reported to the state's Birth Defects Registry. Delaware’s law requires that any ‘health care practitioner who diagnoses a child with autism under the age of 18 report such information on the Delaware Autism Surveillance and Registration/Autism Registry, overseen by the state's Department of Health & Social Services and Division of Public Health.’ New Jersey’s ‘CDC-sponsored autism surveillance system’—run by Dr. Walter Zahorodny, who spoke at RFK’s press conference—mandates reporting of autism diagnosis of anyone 22 or younger. (New Hampshire had a mandatory autism registry until last year but ppl fought it & got the law repealed.)
The Response
Autistic psychologist Amy Marschall won’t even diagnose autism in states with mandatory registries because of the dangerous history of eugenics being applied to disabled people: “Nobody is saying: ‘Don’t research us.’ Nobody is saying: ‘Don’t find ways to make our lives better.’ It’s: ‘Don’t research us without any of us on your research team – and find ways to support us, not ways to eradicate us.’” She, too, is skeptical of the HHS’s sudden “reversal” on the national autism registry: “They’re saying it’s not an autism registry, but it sounds like they kind of just changed the name of it” (The Guardian). Indeed, ‘On [May 5], Кеnnеdу told Fox Nеws there would be a rеgistrу but that it would be voluntary and not include рrivаtе infоrmаtiоn. The project will comply with рrivасу lаws, ННS said, but did not specify if the dаtа will be аnоnуmоus or if participation is voluntary.’ Director of the Center for Autism Research Excellence at Boston University Dr. Helen Tager-Flusberg, like Marschall and so many others, is concerned about the lack of transparency surrounding all of it, pointing out that ‘NIН already had a Nаtiоnаl Dаtаbаsе for Autism Rеsеаrсh, that included the type of dаtа needed to conduct rеsеаrсh on the causes. The dаtаbаsе, comprised of detailed rеsеаrсh dаtа collected by all NlН-funded rеsеаrсh studies over 10-15 years, has not been available for several weeks now, she said, & scientists were not told why’ (Reuters). NIH also did not respond to either Reuters’ or The Guardian’s requests for more information on security/privacy measures, participant consent, or how the collected data would be used.
Parents of autistic children are also divided. Ryan Smith, an Idaho father of neurodiverse children, ‘worries that the database and research could worsen stigma around autism, and it could keep individuals and families from seeking diagnoses and care’ (The Guardian). On the other hand, many who identify as allistic parents of HSN autistic children—sometimes referred to by the “actually autistic” community as Autism Moms—view him as an advocate. They tend to adhere to the medical model when discussing disability, viewing autism as an intruder that has only recently come into existence to “steal” children and tear families apart. Certainly no one should invalidate their struggles: there can be vast differences between the experiences of autistic people at different places on the spectrum, and for their loved ones by extension. However, the idea that this is a new phenomenon rather than one that is being framed differently as science understands it better is extremely problematic. Autistic and other kinds of neurodivergent people have always existed, and many who view neurodiversity through the social model point out that the world today is perhaps the least accommodating it has ever been for people who are easily overwhelmed by external stimuli:
The Biggest Fear
And while some parts of history and cultures may have been kinder to neurodivergent folks, others have been brutal. Smith, the father who is opposed to Kenndy’s registry, explains that stigma isn’t the only thing he worries about: ‘“[A]t worst, I worry that we’re on a slippery slope to eugenics. My mind immediately goes to history and things that happened in Nazi Germany. That’s extreme, but it feels like a possibility.” Disabled people were the first to be targeted then, he pointed out’ (The Guardian).
Surprised by that concern? Many people are, because Holocaust education tends to skip over this part…
In fact, the term Asperger’s Syndrome comes from Nazi eugenicist Hans Asperger, who named level 1 autism (as it’s now known) after himself to denote autistic people he viewed as potential contributors to society rather than burdens on it. The rest, he marked to be killed. Unsurprisingly, Elon Musk still describes himself as having Asperger’s rather than as being autistic. Don’t assume he’s not aware of the historical undertones.
Given the Nazi fixation with creating a “master race” and eradicating anyone perceived as a “threat to Aryan genetic purity,” a “euthanasia program” sold as both the “mercy killing” of people with physical/mental disabilities and a way to eliminate drags on the economy (sound familiar?) certainly fits the bill (Holocaust Encyclopedia website). But as disabled Black activist Imani Barbarin has pointed out, ableism is designed to oppress already marginalized communities even more. It’s the easiest, most socially-acceptable way to control people society deems “problematic.”
For example, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic/Latino children—all groups that have been victims of family separation, disenfranchisement, and ethnic cleansing in the U.S.—continue to have the highest rates of diagnosis according to the latest CDC report. There is also a strong “link between autism and transness being misused, scientists say.” Researchers first identified a link between autism and gender dysphoria in youth back in 2010, and many studies have replicated the findings since. The problem is that this research is now being used by conservative U.S. lawmakers to support anti-trans laws:
Bills passed in Georgia & Arkansas both cite link as a reason to ban gender-affirming for minors
Missouri AG issued an “emergency rule” in 2023 that “would have mandated autism screening for anyone seeking gender-affirming care, including adults”—it was terminated in May after a judge halted it
In a 2023 study that found autistic youth are three times more likely to identify as transgender or gender-diverse, the study’s authors included commentary specifying that the results “must not be used” to justify banning gender-affirming care for trans youth. John Strang, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at George Washington University and director of a clinic that serves gender-diverse neurodivergent youth explains, “The common intersection of autism and transgender identity has entered the political fray surrounding gender diversity and gender care, likely due to ongoing stigmatization and distrust of autistic people, their inner experience, and their ability to know who they are.” This kind of stigma actually hurts research rather than helping it: researchers are hesitant to share their work/findings for fear of them being misused, and laypeople are afraid to participate in studies for the same reason.
The Real Threat
If you’re thinking, “thank goodness no one in my family is autistic,” please know that the threat expands beyond autism. A 2023 Ohio anti-trans bill “implies that autism or mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and ADHD, may be influencing transgender children to have gender dysphoria or to question their gender identity [despite the fact that n]o such research indicates this is happening” (The 19th). The New York Times recently platformed an op-ed contributor who added his own biased misinformation to the maelstrom about ADHD, making misleading claims about the effectiveness of stimulant medication and inaccurately suggesting, like RFK, that the rise in diagnosis rates indicates a medical crisis rather than improved understanding and diagnostics. Being diagnosed and properly treated for ADHD—and other mental health conditions—can be literally life-saving: ‘ADHD medication has been shown to reduce impulsivity and, by extension, the risks of car accidents, substance abuse, unplanned pregnancy, comorbid depression and anxiety, incarceration, self-harm, and suicide. In fact, research has found that stimulant medication use among individuals with ADHD reduces the risk of premature death by a staggering 19%.’ Non-medical experts undermining the peer-reviewed work of respected researchers, invalidating the experiences of neurodivergent people, and implying that people with diagnosed mental health conditions don’t really need their medication is not just wrong; it’s dangerous.
It’s important to note that this dangerous narrative about disability, mental illness, and medication is also coming from and supported by the White House. On Feb. 13, the day RFK was sworn in as HHS Secretary, Trump signed an Executive Order titled ‘Establishing the President's Make America Healthy Again Commission.’ The order lists statistics illustrating that the ‘health of Americans is on an alarming trajectory,’ specifically points out the increase in children’s autism and ADHD diagnoses, then states,
‘These health burdens have continued to increase alongside the increased prescription of medication. […]
‘This poses a dire threat to the American people and our way of life. Seventy-seven percent of young adults do not qualify for the military based in large part on their health scores. Ninety percent of the Nation’s $4.5 trillion in annual healthcare expenditures is for people with chronic and mental health conditions. […] These trends harm us, our economy, and our security.’
That’s right. They’re labeling neurodivergent, chronically ill, and disabled Americans a “threat” even as ‘House Republicans propose Medicaid cuts to fund Trump tax breaks.’ Those children and adolescents they claim to be so concerned about? Roughly half of them ‘are covered by Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, another joint federal-state program,’ and child health advocates are concerned that as a result of any of Republicans’ proposed cuts to Medicaid funding, ‘states would have to reduce or even eliminate services that help tens of millions of children access routine care that's critical from birth, such as vaccinations and physical exams’ (Stateline.org). So if we’re not investing in healthcare infrastructure, what exactly are we doing?
The Scarlet Letter
‘History, language, context, and power are deep determinants of who gets framed as "normal" or “wrong,”’ writes Jenara Nerenberg in her book Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed for You. She gives many examples of people—especially women—being pathologized and even literally demonized for intellectual and emotional differences/disabilities that represent a challenge to the status quo:
‘In the 1400s, the common notion of madness was that the devil and evil spirits had taken possession of the human mind. This belief contributed to many women being viewed as "witches" and then killed, especially if they were considered to be countercultural or irreligious.’ [...]
‘ The DSM [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] is more like a catalogue of current social ailments than scientific hardwired "diseases."’:
1850s: slave drapetomania in the (the "mental illness" that caused slaves to try to escape slavery)
1950s: homosexuality considered a mental illness
Today: "internet use disorder"
‘In Women and Madness, Phyllis Chesler writes of what she calls "psychiatric imperialism," whereby normal responses to trauma are methodically pathologized in science and medicine.’
‘The medical and psychiatric treatment of those who operate differently from a perceived norm tells a story of discrimination and pathologization.’
What the Trump regime is doing is nothing new. They are turning their disdain for difference—anyone who isn’t white, male, straight, cis-gender, able-bodied, neurotypical, and Christo-fascist—into a modern-day witch hunt. Vilifying neurodivergent and disabled folks is one of their easiest access points because there is already (by design) so much overlap with the other groups they want to silence, but remember that their ultimate goal isn’t a better life for anyone other than the already rich and powerful; it’s to divide the rest of us so we’re ALL easier to conquer. Act accordingly.
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