Sarah Boon

Trigger warning: dehumanisation of autistic people and eugenics.

Unless you have been hiding under a rock or have no access to the internet, then you have undoubtedly come across the car crash of a ‘statement’ Trump, RFK Jr and their allies put out about autism. It was full of lies, misinformation and the claims lacked any medical credibility. The last few days have been rough for me personally and it is not until now that I feel I have the ability to break down how harmful his statement was from my perspective. From what I’ve seen most people think it’s rubbish what he said (but that could also be from the bias of social media algorithms). However, most of the criticism is surface level that I’ve seen, and in fairness what I have put on social media so far is to, as I only had the capacity to share my initial reactions to the statement at first. 

I now had the chance to watch the full statement, and there were just so many issues that came up. I feel compelled to share them with you now, as only the highlight reels are being spread online rather than a fuller picture of what was claimed. So let’s delve in. 

We start off in the land of doom and gloom as Trump introduces the ‘Confronting the horrible crisis of autism’ and proclaims how the ‘rise’ is autism is the greatest public health issue in history. He then goes on to mention statistics about the rise in diagnosis rates, but implies that this is the actual autism rate in the population. The problem with this logic is that not every autistic person is diagnosed. Yes, more people are being diagnosed today compared to previous decades, but this is because  understanding of autism has improved, and we now know that autism as a spectrum is a lot broader than we initially thought. Alongside increased awareness of autism leading to more people questioning if they are autistic and subsequently putting themselves forward for assessments. 

Trump is also relying on the public not understanding the difference between correlation and causation. He suggested that communities and countries who are less likely to take or have access to vaccines and paracetamol (tynenol) have ‘no autism’. Again if certain communities are less likely to access healthcare (or certain aspects of healthcare), then what are the odds that they are putting themselves or family members forward for autism assessments? Chances are not as high as other populations. If Trump had done his homework, he would have also shared that there are many populations where autism has been historically under-diagnosed, with some of these groups starting to be recognised as autistic more often today. Another reason why more people are being diagnosed compared to previous decades. Autistic people have always existed, but autism being diagnosed is something that has only happened more recently. You also hear the argument ‘There was no autism back in my day’, one which RFK Jr seems to have an obsession with. But what you have to remember is that a lot more autistic people back in his days were institutionalised and out of sight from most, or were misdiagnosed with something other than autism (or both in some cases). 

Trump implies that he is concerned by the ‘surge’ in autism. It is clear he thinks autism shouldn’t exist, a sentiment many autistic people disagree with. Many autistic people want better support so we can have the best quality of life. Although being autistic is rarely easy, we know that autism can also bring joy and ultimately it is part of who we are. If I weren’t autistic, I wouldn’t be me, in fact I’d be a different person entirely. So when you hear politicians spreading false and dehumanising lies about how your way of being is a disease or an epidemic, what they are saying is that they don’t want people like me to exist because we’re “burdens”. That is straight up eugenics. A human’s value as a person does not and will never come from the perceived costs from insurance companies, governments etc. But that is what Trump and his government are doing to autistic people right now. They also fueled the idea that autism makes a child unhealthy and discussed ‘reducing autism symptoms’. They incorrectly see autism as a disease (which it’s not) and clearly want to prevent it as if it was one. 

Also when Trump was blaming women for taking pain relief during pregnancy for “causing” autism it’s a double whammy of falsely accusing women of something they didn’t do and eugenics against autistic people. Blaming mothers for having an autistic child/children is nothing new, but back then they called it the refrigerator mother theory. Where they blamed the alleged “emotional coldness” of mothers for causing autism. Which we know is not true. 

Unfortunately Trump then proceeds to confidently share his anti-vaxxer rhetoric and using click bait phrases to try and shock people into not receiving vaccines such as MMR and hepatitis B when they need them. He also decides to provide medical advice despite holding no medical qualifications or credentials. Before handing over to RFK Jr who spent several minutes spreading nothing but falsehoods around the evidence base for autism, vaccines and paracetamol. He uses these falsehoods to justify a ‘public health safety campaign’ to protect people from being autistic. I cannot even imagine the damage this would cause in the years to come when less people will be vaccinated because public health in the USA is spreading fear about autism now. The people who genuinely believe this will be in for a shock in the future when new autistic children will still come into existence, even if the rate of vaccinations and taking paracetamol decreases.  

Despite supporting Trump’s justification of women blaming earlier on, RFK Jr states that we should not be marginalising or gaslighting mothers who believe anti-vax ideology. So my interpretation of that statement is that RFK Jr only wants mothers who believe his and Trump’s governments lies not to be marginalised. They clearly don’t care about mothers at all, but are just trying to brand themselves as if they do. Don’t fall for their propaganda! 

Next, there were announcements of studies based on the ideologies shared earlier, money I am sure that could be used in so many better ways. Especially as we know vaccines and paracetamol do not cause autism. It’s throwing money at things we already know the answer to. 

Before Trump and his government took questions from the press, 3 parents shared their anti-vax views. One even doubted if understanding autism as a spectrum was helpful. Alarming considering how broad and varied autistic people are alongside the needs we may have. As she introduced herself as having a child with profound autism. I can only assume that her implication was that only autistic people with the greatest support needs are ‘really autistic’. A dangerous narrative that dismisses people’s reality and need for support due to a disability, even if it looks a lot different from her own child’s needs. It was also an interesting choice that there was not a single autistic person (or at least openly autistic person) sharing their views as part of this announcement. Not to mention there are autistic mothers who also have autistic children who didn’t seem included either. They either didn’t care enough to involve and co-produce their work with autistic people themselves, or they couldn’t find a single autistic person (or at least openly autistic) who agreed to be involved. 

This statement from Trump had no apparent contributions from autistic people, because it’s not about making autistic people’s lives better at all. It’s clearly about spreading the lie that autism is ‘a disease that needs to be fixed and cured’. Many autistic people see autism as part of who they are, you cannot separate autism from autistic people. A distinction that was never made because it would expose Trump and co’s eugenic intentions, that they no longer want autistic people to exist.     

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Sources and additional information 

Ahlqvist, V.H. et al. (2024) ‘Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Children’s Risk of Autism, ADHD, and Intellectual Disability’, JAMA, 331(14), pp. 1205–1205. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2024.3172.

Aylward, B.S., Gal-Szabo, D.E. and Taraman, S. (2021) ‘Racial, Ethnic, and Sociodemographic Disparities in Diagnosis of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder’, Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 42(8). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1097/dbp.0000000000000996.

Garcia, E. (2025) Autistic moms of kids on the spectrum are livid after Trump and RFK Jr blame Tylenol — and them, The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-autism-mothers-tylenol-rfk-jr-b2834054.html (Accessed: 28 September 2025)

NHS (2023) Why Vaccination Is Important and the Safest Way to Protect Yourself, NHS. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/vaccinations/why-vaccination-is-important-and-the-safest-way-to-protect-yourself/. 

O’Nions, E. et al. (2023) ‘Autism in England: Assessing Underdiagnosis in a Population-Based Cohort Study of Prospectively Collected Primary Care Data’, The Lancet Regional Health, 29(1), pp. 100626–100626. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100626. 

Pearson, H. and Ledford, H. (2025) ‘Trump links autism and Tylenol: is there any truth to it?’, Nature.com [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02876-1.

Purtill, C. (2025). The real reasons why autism rates have shot up over the decades. [online] Los Angeles Times. Available at: https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2025-09-24/rfk-wants-an-answer-to-rising-autism-rates-scientists-say-hes-ignoring-these-obvious-ones.  

World (2025) WHO statement on autism-related issues, Who.int. World Health Organization: WHO. Available at: https://www.who.int/news/item/24-09-2025-who-statement-on-autism-related-issues.