Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired back at critics who accused him of insulting autistic people during a speech Thursday, where he’d advocated for researching and finding the cause - and even a solution - for people suffering from extreme mental and physical problems caused by autism.
In his original remarks, RFK pointed to the roughly 25-30 percent of people on the autism spectrum who have been diagnosed with profound autism, defined as having an IQ of less than 50 or being nonverbal or minimally verbal.
“Autism destroys families, but more importantly, it destroys out greatest resource: our children. These are children who should not be suffering like this,” he said, speaking of the nearly one-third of autistic people who have debilitating cognitive impairments.
“These are kids who, many of them are full-functional and regress because of some environmental exposure into autism when they’re two years old,” RFK postulated Thursday.
“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 continued. “And we have to recognize, we are doing this to our children.”
RFK JR: 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 pic.twitter.com/8T3hcYYn9O
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 16, 2025
He's not wrong. In most cases, profoundly autistic persons, many of them children, are minimally self-sufficient and will need continual, life-long care. While every case is different, individuals with profound autism often exhibit repetitive, self-destructive, or violent behavior and an inability to grasp basic concepts beyond the level of a toddler or very young child, have serious difficulties with communication, and have extreme negative responses to change or severe sensory sensitivities. Many cannot manage their own physical needs, including preparing even simple meals or using the bathroom without help.
But that single, out-of-context clip from RFK's remarks was widely circulated on social media, sparking a wave of backlash from people accusing him of branding all autistic people as incapable, fully-dependent brain vegetables. The media immediately jumped on the bandwagon - as did Sen. Elizabeth Still-Not-an-Indian Warren, who disingenuously accused him of making a "disgusting and dangerous" statement about autistic people.
However, immediately adjacent to those people pointing out the “high-functioning” individuals who’ve been diagnosed as being on the autism “spectrum” were parents of low-functioning autistic children who said RFK described their family’s struggles perfectly, detailing their daily trauma of caring for a person with extreme cognitive issues.
"Truly stunned to see so many responses like this to RFK's description of profound autism, which affects 27% of autistic people, including my son. What's disgusting is sanitizing this devastatingly impaired population out of public discourse," wrote one mom.
"I am not an rfk jr fan but he just described children with what some would call "profound" or "severe" autism at a press conference and i have already seen so much pushback about how "their kid who has autism isn't like that" and like..........congratulations???? mine is," penned another.
Speaking with Fox News’ Sean Hannity Thursday night, RFK acknowledged that of course not all children with an autism diagnosis are low-functioning, but that millions of families on the opposite end of the spectrum are suffering.
“There are many kids with autism who are doing well. They're holding down jobs, they're getting paychecks, and they're living independently. But I was specifically referring to that 25 percent, that group that is non-verbal,” he clarified.
🚨RFK Jr. just slammed the mainstream media for falsely claiming he said all autistic kids won’t be able to work or play sports.
— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) April 18, 2025
“There are many kids with autism who are doing well.”
“They're holding down jobs, they're getting paychecks, and they're living independently.”
“I… pic.twitter.com/oPcd9144Cd
Kennedy then suggested that HHS “will have some preliminary answers in six months” as to what he believes are environmental factors causing a rise in autism, estimating that “it will take us probably a year from then before we can have definitive answers.”