“ To generalize and say none of us can work , day of the month or contribute to society , is completely false . I have a job . I do pay taxes . I ’ve dated . I have a master ’s degree . ”
Earlier this month,Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparked outrageafter making wildly offensive remarks about people with autism.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services claimed that“environmental toxins”are to blame for the increased rate of autism diagnoses in children. Hesaid, “Autism destroys families, but more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. These are children who should not be suffering like this… These are kids, many of them were fully functional and regressed because of some environmental exposure into autism when they’re 2 years old."
RFK JR : And these are shaver who will never yield 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 unassistedpic.twitter.com/8T3hcYYn9O
As an FYI , the US Center for Disease Control and Preventionreportedthat this increased rate ( which equate to more than3 % of minor ) is due to an increase in “ entree to identification among previously underserved groups . ” In other word , more children are being tested for autism , hence the rise in diagnosing .
RFK Jr.also said, “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. And we have to recognize, we are doing this to our children.”
If you did n’t know , Love on the Spectrumis a Netflix reality show thatfollows adults with autismnavigating the ups and John L. H. Down of date stamp .
Contestant Dani described RFK Jr.’s remarks as “completely false” during a recent chat withNewsNation, perVariety. “Autistic people have the same hopes, dreams and yes, the same awkward dating moments as anyone else,” she said. “To generalize and say none of us can work, date or contribute to society, is completely false. I have a job. I do pay taxes. I’ve dated. I have a master’s degree.”
“Wanting to cure autism implies that our way of being is wrong and it isn’t. We don’t need to be fixed. We need to be supported. But the answer isn’t erasing autism, it’s building a more inclusive world for all of us,” she added.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on James and Dani’s responses down below.
