RFK Jr., others need a better understanding of autism [View all]
By Aly Bernhisel / For The Herald
Autism has been in the news lately, largely due to recent comments and decisions from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health and Human Services secretary. As a mom of an autistic kid, I feel compelled to respond to a recent interview of his by first sharing some thoughts on why autism is a topic that must be approached with extraordinary care:
• Autism is a complex, emotional topic. It’s one that deserves to be approached with care and listening and understanding because it impacts infinitely worthy and valuable humans who are navigating a world that, in various ways and to various degrees, doesn’t adequately understand and value them.
• Autism also deserves this care because of how big and diverse its tent is.
It’s true that no kid or adult with autism is the same, and that the impacts of autism can be beautiful and joyful and also scary and hard. Acknowledging autism’s impacts includes hearing perspectives like this one from a mom of an autistic boy with significant support needs who recently wrote that she would “take away” her son’s autism “in a heartbeat. … And until you’ve watched your child injure their own body or lay awake at night wondering who will care for them after you die,” she wrote, “you don’t get a say in that one.”
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-rfk-jr-others-need-a-better-understanding-of-autism/
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