Good morning from the Midwest!
I’m sure you’ve all been keeping track of Trump’s tariff stuff, but there’s something even darker happening here in America that might not be making international news quite as much. Our current Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr (RFK Jr) is a well-known proponent of anti-vaccine theories. During a press conference in April he gave a really alarming message claiming Autism as an epidemic. He claims that rising numbers of Autism diagnoses are not due to a better, more spectrum-based system of diagnosis. He also made it clear that he believes that Autism destroys families and that most children with Autism will never grow up to be functioning members of society. That’s just the surface of it. NBC made a pretty good article tearing apart this horrible press conference:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/autism-community-needs-rfkjr-stigma-funding-rcna203578
Another good article talking about how dangerous RFK Jr is comes from Autistic Self Advocacy Network:
This man and the people on his team are absolutely terrifying for our community. It seems like every Autism society here in America (I haven’t checked Autism Speaks, who knows what they’re doing right now) is decrying RFK Jr’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign. It’s actually kind of unnerving being Autistic in the Midwest where a frightening amount of people are religiously Trump supporters. I’m lucky to have a good support system that doesn’t think I’m a freak caused by vaccines.
Just thought y’all’d like to know what’s going down over here.
