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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.

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • This is what happens when people elect despots and lunatics to positions of power.

    We, as humans, don't ever learn the lessons of history, or from around the globe.  

    If ignorance is unchecked, we end up governed by it - and those that exploit it.  

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