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The US is proposing creating a register of those with autism

Iain

If you haven't seen the news, Roberr F Kennedy Jr has proposed that there is setup a register of people with autism in the USA.

He also proposes a bunch of misinformation about autism to justify this (e.g. it is a preventable disease caused by environmental toxins)) -

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2025-04-23/is-rfk-jr-creating-an-autism-registry-what-to-know

News these days can be very biassed in its reporting so it helps that Snopes has researched the article in more depth:

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/04/22/rfk-jr-registry-to-track-autism/

My concern is that this is opening the door to eugenics. Look at his statement: "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,”

It does not take much of a stretch of the imagination for a regeime already leaning heavily on facist methodology to start to build registers of the undesirables - those they can get rid of because they are a burdon on society.

Once the US starts to normalise the process then other countries are going to believe thet can do the same - the Pandoras box will have been opened.

It is a very troubling time to be autistic.

Parents

  • I'm not so sure Iain, I think there's a general outcry against people like Kenedy, many scientists are leaving the US to work elsewhere where they can continue thier research, some universities in Europe are actively recruiting American academics.

    I agree it's worrying generally, but I think America is isolating itself from the rest of the world, or maybe the rest of the world is isolating America, there does seem to be a slump in Trumps base support, now people are being hit by the economic uncertainties caused by tarrifs and stuff. The courts are overturning many of Trumps policies and diktats.

    Eugenics has always been a bit of a dirty secret in America, they practiced it long after everyone else stopped, so I'm not sure it ever really went away.

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  • I'm not so sure Iain, I think there's a general outcry against people like Kenedy, many scientists are leaving the US to work elsewhere where they can continue thier research, some universities in Europe are actively recruiting American academics.

    I agree it's worrying generally, but I think America is isolating itself from the rest of the world, or maybe the rest of the world is isolating America, there does seem to be a slump in Trumps base support, now people are being hit by the economic uncertainties caused by tarrifs and stuff. The courts are overturning many of Trumps policies and diktats.

    Eugenics has always been a bit of a dirty secret in America, they practiced it long after everyone else stopped, so I'm not sure it ever really went away.

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