A severe autism advocate responds to RFK Jr.'s research initiative
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.1 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2025
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discussed these findings, he declared that autism is a rapidly growing "epidemic" in the U.S. and vowed to identify the "environmental toxin" he says is to blame.
Which of Kennedy's remarks rang true to those in the autism community?
Jill Escher is the president of the National Council on Severe Autism, and had both gratitude and criticism for the new initiative.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's a saying in the autism community. If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism. |
| 0:07.3 | Meaning no two people with the disorder are affected in the same way. And yet, in popular media, there can be a narrow range of depictions of people with autism. |
| 0:17.8 | There are these seats where brown on there. |
| 0:19.6 | There's Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of an autistic savant in the 1988 movie, Rain Man. |
| 0:26.0 | How do you know this car? |
| 0:26.9 | Definitely know this car. |
| 0:27.8 | It's 949 Buick Roadmaster's Straight 8, Fireball 8, only 8,00095 production models. |
| 0:33.7 | Or the brilliant but socially inept surgeon, Sean Murphy on ABC's The Good Doctor. |
| 0:40.2 | Yes, he has autism, but he also has savant syndrome, genius level skills in several areas. |
| 0:46.4 | He has almost perfect recall. He has spatial intelligence, and he sees things and analyzes things in ways that are just remarkable. |
| 0:55.4 | Or the sweet but awkward participants on the Netflix show about dating called Love on the Spectrum. |
| 1:02.9 | I don't want to be alone. I want to find someone. |
| 1:04.8 | I haven't dated in 33 years. |
| 1:08.0 | You could imagine I have to kiss many frogs to find the right guy. |
| 1:11.6 | And then there's the way Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. portrayed autism. |
| 1:18.6 | And these are kids who will never pay taxes. |
| 1:22.6 | They'll never hold a job. |
| 1:24.6 | I'll never play baseball. They'll never write a poem. I'll never play baseball. |
| 1:29.1 | They'll never write a poem. |
| 1:31.1 | They'll never go out on a date. |
| 1:34.8 | Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted. |
| 1:40.4 | Secretary Kennedy made those remarks at a press conference earlier this month where he declared autism to be an epidemic and announced a series of studies |
... |
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