RFK Jr. claims autism 'dwarfs' COVID-19 because it hits kids not 'old people'
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
proclaimed that the impact of
autism
greatly exceeds the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on American lives. The known
conspiracy theorist
made the claim during an appearance on
The Cats Roundtable
radio show on WABC 770 AM on Sunday.
"It dwarfs the COVID epidemic and the impacts on our country because
COVID
killed old people," Kennedy told the show's host, John Catsimatidis. "Autism affects children and affects them at the beginning of their lives, the beginning of their productivity.'
'And it's absolutely debilitating for them, their families, their communities and for our county — just the pure economic cost of autism,' he added. According to Kennedy Jr., autism will eventually cost the economy '1 trillion dollars a year' by 2035. The HHS secretary did not elaborate on where he got that figure.
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Kennedy's statement comes hot on the heels of his previous comments saying that children with autism will face a lot of "nevers" in their lives, including never holding a job and never going on a date. The claim went further than just saying kids with autism will never have a job or fall in love, as according to him, they won't be able to play sports, write creatively, or use the bathroom unattended either.
"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," RFK Jr. said. Several X users called him "cruel" and "dehumanizing" for making such a statement on live television
while providing zero evidence
.
"This is cruel, ableist rhetoric masquerading as concern. RFK Jr. reduces children with disabilities to economic burdens and stripped humanity," a user wrote on X under a clip of RFK making the statement posted by the X user Acyn. "This kind of blanket statement is harmful, dehumanizing and flat-out wrong," another wrote.
"This is f****** disgusting," another commented. "This absolutely disgusting. He is vile," another wrote in the comments.
RFK Jr. recently said autism is a "preventable disease" caused by "environmental exposure" and added that "it has to be, genes do not cause epidemics." While the exact cause of autism is not known, researchers have reported that there can be multiple causes of the disorder, leaving the process of pinpointing one cause to be complex.
However, researchers have made it clear that genetics have a large part to play in diagnosing the disorder. In his speech, Kennedy cited a recent statistic from the CDC that found 1 in 31 children are diagnosed with autism by the age of 8 in America.
He then vowed to find the cause of the "disease" by September, despite researchers and scientists studying the disorder for multiple decades without being able to do so. "By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic, and we'll be able to eliminate those exposures," Kennedy said in a cabinet meeting earlier this month.
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