By Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact, KFF Well being Information
Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attracted discover — and in some quarters, outrage — for remarks about autism, a subject he’s clashed with scientists about for years.
Kennedy held an April 16 press convention pegged to a brand new Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention report that discovered the prevalence of autism rising to 1 in 31 amongst 8-year-olds, the newest in a sequence of will increase in current a long time.
Kennedy mentioned “autism destroys families” and is an “individual tragedy as well.”
Kennedy mentioned many autistic kids had been “fully functional” and had “regressed” into autism “when they were 2 years old. And 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.”
He additionally mentioned: “Most cases now are severe. Twenty-five percent of the kids who are diagnosed with autism are nonverbal, non-toilet-trained, and have other stereotypical features.”
Medical consultants, together with individuals on the autism spectrum, informed PolitiFact that Kennedy’s portrayal was skewed. A 2023 examine written by CDC officers and college researchers discovered that one-quarter of individuals on the autism spectrum have extreme limitations. However that is on the excessive finish of research, and many individuals in that one-quarter of the autism inhabitants wouldn’t have the constraints Kennedy talked about.
The overwhelming majority of individuals on the spectrum wouldn’t have these extreme challenges.
“I wish he would spend some time with parents of other autistic children, and well-regarded scientists who have studied this condition for decades,” mentioned David Mandell, a College of Pennsylvania psychiatry professor and director of the Penn Middle for Psychological Well being. “He has a fixed, myopic view.”
The Division of Well being and Human Providers didn’t present information on what share of individuals with autism diagnoses are unable to do the issues Kennedy described.
“Secretary Kennedy remains committed to working toward a society where people with autism have access to meaningful opportunities, appropriate supports, and the full respect and recognition they deserve,” division press secretary Vianca N. Rodriguez Feliciano informed PolitiFact. “His statements emphasized the need for increased research into environmental factors contributing to the rise in autism diagnoses, not to stigmatize individuals with autism or their families.”
The Washington Publish reported that an HHS spokesperson mentioned Kennedy “was referring to those that are severely affected by this chronic condition” and that “this was in no way a general characterization.”
We took a more in-depth take a look at the out there information and analysis.
What Is Autism Spectrum Dysfunction?
At root, “autism is a difference in how your child’s brain works that shapes how they interact with the world around them,” in accordance with the Cleveland Clinic. Folks with autism diagnoses, the clinic says, “may excel more in certain areas and need more support in other areas compared to their neurotypical peers.”
Through the years, autism’s definition and prognosis has modified.
Within the Nineteen Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, “it is very likely that many people with profound autism were misdiagnosed with ‘mental retardation,’ a term in use at the time, or schizophrenia, while other autistic people probably got no diagnosis at all,” mentioned John J. Pitney Jr., a Claremont McKenna Faculty politics professor, writer of the guide “The Politics of Autism: Navigating the Contested Spectrum,” and a father of an autistic son who’s about to graduate from school.
In newer a long time, the diagnostic standards for autism have broadened, producing a spectrum starting from extreme impacts to extra modest ones. As we speak’s definition encompasses “individuals with milder symptoms, stronger language skills, and higher IQs,” mentioned Christopher Banks, president and CEO of the Autism Society of America.
How Widespread are the Extra Limiting Types of Autism?
Autism’s expanded definition means a minority of individuals on the spectrum have the sorts of extreme limitations Kennedy cited, although it’s onerous to say what number of.
The very best complete we discovered comes from a 2023 federal report, written by CDC officers and college researchers. It discovered that 26.7% of 8-year-olds with autism had “profound” autism, a newly framed (and never universally accepted) definition that included kids who had been nonverbal, had been minimally verbal, or had an IQ beneath 50. (“Average” IQ is taken into account 90 to 109.)
Folks with profound autism “will require lifetime, round-the-clock care,” mentioned Judith Ursitti, co-founder and president of the Profound Autism Alliance, a nonprofit. Ursitti mentioned her 21-year-old son “is not headed towards employment or a career in poetry or baseball. Acknowledging this fact is important, as this population is often excluded from media portrayals and research.”
Different estimates are decrease.
A examine printed in 2024, by researchers on the College of Utah and Youngsters’s Hospital of Philadelphia, checked out 1,368 U.S. kids with autism. When mother and father had been requested whether or not they would characterize their youngster’s autism as “severe,” 10.1% mentioned sure. Amongst this group of youngsters with “severe” autism, a minority — 38% — had been labeled as having a “severe” mental incapacity.
“Even among those with an intellectual disability, there’s huge variability,” Mandell mentioned. “People with Down syndrome have an intellectual disability but often are quite capable and can do all the things RFK points to.”
The CDC printed information in 2020 exhibiting that 42% of individuals with autism had an IQ within the common or increased vary, and one other examine has discovered that this determine may very well be as excessive as 60%.
Zoe Gross, the director of advocacy on the Autistic Self Advocacy Community, mentioned restricted out there information means that Kennedy’s characterization is exaggerated.
Gross, who’s on the spectrum herself, mentioned a 2017 examine discovered that 61% of individuals on the spectrum who had been studied had been employed. As for baseball, the Particular Olympics, which was based by Kennedy’s household and contains opponents who’re on the spectrum, contains softball. At the least two individuals who performed main league baseball, Tarik El-Abour and Jim Eisenreich, had been public about their autism diagnoses.
Gross mentioned there isn’t a official information on autistic poets, however she was conscious of the poet DJ Savarese, a nonspeaking however extremely literate advocate. Gross was additionally unable to seek out information on relationship, however she mentioned she’s married, and he or she pointed to the Netflix actuality present “ Love on the Spectrum,” which follows autistic individuals’s relationship lives. It’s now in its third season.
As for not utilizing a bathroom unassisted, the 2024 examine that analyzed 1,368 U.S. kids with autism and located that 10.1% had been thought-about “severe” discovered that 67% of these within the “severe” class had hassle bathing or dressing, which, if generalizable to the complete autistic inhabitants, could be lower than 7%. One other examine discovered urinary incontinence reported by 12.5% of the autistic individuals studied and fecal incontinence by 7.9%.
Eric M. Garcia, who’s on the spectrum and who has written the guide “We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation,” was overlaying Kennedy’s remarks as Washington bureau chief of The Unbiased. Listening to his phrases “felt so demoralizing,” Garcia informed PolitiFact. “A lot of people will respond by saying, ‘He didn’t mean autistic people like you.’ But that doesn’t make it any better.”
PolitiFact employees author Madison Czopek contributed to this text.
©2025 KFF Well being Information. Distributed by Tribune Content material Company, LLC.
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