The Trump administration plans to announce the results of an autism investigation
The Trump administration plans to announce discoveries of what could contribute to autism, but medical groups are challenging their claims.
The Trump administration announced on Monday, September 22, that it discovered the “answer to autism” — claims experts, advocacy groups, and the autism community call it dangerous and regressive.
Trump announced plans to uncover the possible causes of autism spectrum disorder at a memorial rally for conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 21, telling commemorative visitors, “You think it’s amazing.”
At a press conference, Trump, alongside Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) RFK Jr. and other officials, argued that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy could contribute to the development of autism in children.
The Trump administration has repeatedly argued about plans to find the “cause” of autism despite decades of medical and scientific consensus. Without evidence, Kennedy argued that the country has a “preventable” and “autism epidemic” that is fuelled by “environmental toxins.”
Trump and his advisors also reportedly have RFK Jr., a Leucovorin drug, a potential treatment for autism, reportedly considering rapid pursuits for FDA approval.
The simplification of complex developmental differences that exist in many different abilities and experience spectra are dangerous at worst and dangerous at worst to autism experts, advocacy groups, and community members.
“The claim that Tylenol causes autism has been shown to cause autism by real scientific research… autism is a very complex neurodevelopmental condition,” said Dr. Sara Rodriguez, executive director of the Balance Toding Learning Center, which provides coaching, advocacy and treatment, a nonprofit for people with autism and the nervous system. “Genetics is known to play a huge role, and environmental factors are thought to interact with genetic predispositions. If we omit that complexity, policy, funding and healthcare are misunderstood.”
“The announcement is a misreading of data,” said Noor Pervez, Community Engagement Manager for the Autism Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN). “The way RFK Jr. talks about autism is actively dehumanized and promotes stigmatization against people with autism.”
The cause of autism is unknown, but genetics plays an important role
Although the study found one widely accepted, solid answer to factors contributing to autism, the general consensus supported by organizations such as the CDC and Asan is that it is primarily based on genetics. People with autism are more likely to have children with autism, and the increase in autism diagnosis over the past decades has essentially not shown to be “prevalence” in the past – rather, it may be attributed to increased access to diagnostic tools and improvements for early detection.
Still, there are many things we don’t know, some of which can be traced back to the history of research and rhetoric that the current administration is currently echoing – focusing on a single “cause” and “treatment.”
“Most federal research funding on autism for most of its history is focused on autism treatment. The autistic community has not benefited from treatment research and is actively harming people with autism who exist,” Pervez said.
And while focusing on “cause” or “treatment” may sound positive when heard by people from outside the community as they pass, that rhetoric can be dangerous when medications like Recovorin are pushed without rich scrutiny without rich scrutiny, as well as cutting off research that can help improve the lives of people with disabilities in adulthood, old age and even more.
“From bleach to chelates that RFK Jr. has a long and troubling history of people exercising “miraculous treatments” for autism. “These treatments didn’t work and had dangerous and sometimes fatal side effects. It’s very important that we know it works and is safe before people with autism are encouraged to take the medication.”
In some cases, it can lead to negative health outcomes before a child is born, Rodriguez said.
“If the government describes this as a specific cause or a major risk factor, many pregnant people may feel guilty or uneasy because illness, pain or fever is common during pregnancy,” she said. “They may avoid the medical care they need or suffer from untreated fever.
“It feels like we’ve regressed very badly.”
Shannon Rosa, senior editor of Thinkers’ Autism Guide, said different autism groups disagree about many things, but agreed that the White House’s latest claims are pointless.
“As they constantly demonstrate, they are not interested in actual science, so we feel very frightening and deliberately regressed by the administration,” she said. “They are not interested in research, they are not interested in the welfare of people with autism and their families. They are only interested in what people who whisper to their ears say they should.”
Pushing forward the idea that taking Tylenol during pregnancy will bring autism back to past pseudo-science, she blames her mother for having a neurotic child, she said. Rodriguez agreed.
“From the fridge mother to the vaccine to the formula, if you notice it, a lot of the blame is on your mother,” Rodriguez said. “This is nothing new. For decades, autism has been explained through scapegoing, including sophisticated parenting, wrong feeding, wrong choices, wrong medical decisions. The target changes, but the underlying message is the same… Autism is your fault and you should feel guilty.”
Access, respect and support are essential, not responsibility, supporters say.
He said that not only promotes the sense of shame that many families with disabilities have already worked on for social pressure and judgment, but also segregates, alienates and discourages people from networks and resources that can provide support and community.
“As a parent of autistic adults with high support, I also came from outside the disability community and was initially terrified because I didn’t have the correct information,” his son said he was diagnosed when he was diagnosed during the now disproven and the cultural peak of the retracted theory that vaccines cause autism. “I’m very frightening for all parents who were with young children who had a new autism diagnosis, like 20 years ago… putting a family like 20 years ago in an inevitable tail spin.”
“When my teenager was younger, we were told the ‘truth’ that gave me a lot of fear about him,” added Rodriguez, a nervous mother herself and an autistic teenage parent. “He was told he never had relationships, friendships, meaningful communication. He was told he could never think creatively or independently. This kind of rhetoric brings us back to this point.”
He said progress has been made after years of work and advocacy. However, disinformation undermines systematic change and advocacy of attention and resources from what really improves the quality of life for all, including support, services, accommodation, rights and more.
“Autism’s life is worth living – it means non-spacing, people with higher support needs, people of color. It means everything. “The way the world is structured can make it difficult for people with disabilities, including us – that doesn’t mean that autism will put a burden on you. Needing help doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.
