• Replies 23 replies
  • Subscribers 88 subscribers
  • Views 1852 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

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

  • My policy these days is to limit the amount I worry and get stressed about things by primarily concerning myself with things that are happening now, rather than with things that MIGHT happen. I try not to dwell on the past either for similar reasons (the past is gone so why add to our unhappiness by dwelling on it). To keep reasonably good mental health I try to not look ahead too much. Obviously Trump being in power in the U.S is going to involve some very bad things - but I can’t do anything about that and it’s in a foreign country so right now I’m not going to worry about it. I have no power to change it. If it happens  I’ll deal with it when it does, but it might never happen anyway. 

Reply

  • My policy these days is to limit the amount I worry and get stressed about things by primarily concerning myself with things that are happening now, rather than with things that MIGHT happen. I try not to dwell on the past either for similar reasons (the past is gone so why add to our unhappiness by dwelling on it). To keep reasonably good mental health I try to not look ahead too much. Obviously Trump being in power in the U.S is going to involve some very bad things - but I can’t do anything about that and it’s in a foreign country so right now I’m not going to worry about it. I have no power to change it. If it happens  I’ll deal with it when it does, but it might never happen anyway. 

Children
  • in reply to Kate Kestrel

    I'm a bit of a news hound and enjoy politics on the whole, but I'm finding it harder now with the news cycle being dominated by Trump, but I think this is exactly what he wants, he dosen't care how true or real the news is as long as he's top of the agenda.

    There are lot's of things we can't change, but theres lots of things we can play our part in, such as all the ordinary people who are changing travel plans and won't go to America, who seek out non American goods and won't buy American branded goods. "The people" are way ahead of govenments again and voting with their wallets, just like people were and are about environmental issues, like recycling and waste.

    Am I the only one struck by the irony of Musk wanting to create a trible of super intelligent mini-me's, who chances are will be autistic too and end up on Kennedy's list? I think the whole thing will collapse under the weight of its own absurdity before to long.

    Is Must the only person to have been radicalised by his own social media platform?

  • in reply to Kate Kestrel

    I agree, and this is why I don't pay attention to the news anymore. Since the Covid times, I found I was just lost in misery and contractions, worrying about what is the right opinion I should have that aligns with the rest of the world. But it's too big to worry about, especially other countries problems (which may one day encroach on our lives, but we have no power as individuals to stop it).

    Occasionally I will read about what the US is doing, but usually to see if their current so-called policies backfires dramatically to show they have no idea what they are doing. For the US in particular, I have actually stopped thinking of them as a traditional "superpower" country and have far less respect for them as a nation now - given they have the word "united" in their name, they seem to be a hugely divided nation.