Colin Killick is the executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a national public policy and civil rights advocacy nonprofit run by and for autistic people. He is an autistic advocate and writer based in Washington, DC, and holds a 2018 masters in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

The Sept. 22 announcement claiming a link between taking acetaminophen during pregnancy and autism was the latest example of a phenomenon unique to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as secretary of Health and Human Services.

It doesn't seem as if any prior administration has said this much about autism, and no prior administration has cared less about what either autism experts or autistic people ourselves have to say.

The evidence for the claim about acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) is profoundly weak. A review paper published in August found a statistical association between taking acetaminophen during pregnancy and autism.

However, a large Swedish study on the same subject found that the supposed correlation disappeared once researchers controlled for whether the autistic children in the study had autistic siblings and whether those siblings had been exposed to acetaminophen.

Responsible public health authorities don’t set policy that risks panicking the public and tell people to “tough it out” instead of using a safe solution to their pain and fevers based on one disputed source, but this administration did just that.

This left public health experts scrambling to explain that uncontrolled fever during pregnancy actually can cause developmental issues.

Kennedy and President Donald Trump also claimed that leucovorin, a form of folic acid, is an effective treatment for autism, despite unreliable evidence from small studies. There has been a long and dubious history of “autism cure” peddling, from drinking a bleach-like substance to chelation therapy (which Secretary Kennedy has spoken favorably about) to the Lupron that Kennedy adviser David Geier was sanctioned for providing to children without a medical license.

These “remedies” did nothing to change the subjects’ autism, but they have had serious – sometimes deadly – side effects. Here, again, the administration prioritized making a big announcement over telling the truth.

Trump and RKF Jr. find 'facts' to justify a predetermined conclusion

Instead of approaching this issue scientifically, the HHS chief seems to have decided in advance what the answer was and worked backward.

In April, Kennedy said that "we know it’s an environmental exposure (causing autism). Genes do not cause epidemics … you need an environmental toxin" and promised to identify one by September.

The facts, however, support a different conclusion: There is no “autism epidemic.” Autism is a developmental difference that has existed as long as human beings have.

As we have learned more about it, we have expanded the diagnostic criteria, folding in what used to be separate diagnoses like Asperger’s syndrome. Doctors, public health officials and autism organizations have poured time and money into early detection campaigns that have made people more aware of the symptoms of autism and more willing to get a diagnosis.

This is a good thing. It means more autistic people have gotten access to support and accommodations that have improved our lives.

Autistic people have asked Trump administration for support. We've been ignored.

Kennedy has painted autistic people's existence as a plague. In their news conference, he and Trump reaffirmed that the administration's goal is to end autism.

During Autism Acceptance Month in April, Kennedy claimed that autism “destroys” children and their families, and that autistic people are incapable of a laundry list of activities. Such claims are absurd, including about people with high support needs. There are nonspeaking autistic people who write poetry, autistic people with intellectual disabilities who play baseball through organizations like the Special Olympics, and autistic people with high support needs who have successful careers and are experts in their fields.

Not only do autistic people fall in love, but our organization has fought for the right of autistic adults to be able to have romantic relationships, get married and raise children. That is why, in response to Kennedy’s remarks, an unprecedented coalition of autism organizations (including both ours and Autism Speaks, which have historically been at odds) came together to refute Kennedy’s remarks, reaffirming that autistic people’s lives are worth living and that evidence-based autism policy is essential.

This administration has not asked autistic people what we think of its policies that target our community, nor listened when we have spoken up publicly.

We have asked for autism research focused on making our lives better. Instead, the administration canceled $31 million in autism research grants, including a program to help autistic people find careers in science, technology, engineering and math-related fields.

We have asked for greater investment in Medicaid community services that would help more autistic people lead independent lives. Instead, the president’s budget reconciliation bill will lead to hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid funding cuts.

We have asked for an end to policies that let people with disabilities be paid less than the minimum wage. The administration has withdrawn regulations that would have done just that.

Most of all, we have told the administration that we are not a plague, nor “destroyed” people who can be given up on, and we have been consistently ignored.

Colin Killick is the executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a national public policy and civil rights advocacy nonprofit run by and for autistic people. He is an autistic advocate and writer based in Washington, DC, and holds a 2018 masters in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: I'm autistic. Trump and RFK Jr. must stop treating us like a plague to be eradicated.

Reporting by Colin Killick / USA TODAY

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