Kennedy’s Heart Is Filled With Compassion for Families With Autism

Last week, on April 16, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the rate of autism has dramatically increased and now stands at 1 in 31 for eight-year-old children, according to data in a new report produced by CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network.

At HHS’s first press conference, in Washington, D.C., Secretary Kennedy explained to the nation the reality and cost of profound autism.

“Autism destroys families, and more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children,” Kennedy said, adding, “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.”

In its one-sided coverage of responses to Kennedy’s historic press conference, ABC News quoted Samantha Taylor, the mom of a 20-year-old autistic son on the spectrum, who had appeared on the network’s Good Morning America. “Unless you’re a parent of a child with autism, you can’t imagine what the journey is like,” she told GMA. “To say that it’s an epidemic and destroying families is an insult to everyone in the autism community.”

ABC summarized other criticism from parents of children with autism, to whom it reached out, writing Kennedy’s remarks about autism “reinforce harmful stereotypes and ignore the diversity and potential of people on the autism spectrum.”

Similarly, CNN quoted Zoe Gross, director of advocacy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, writing, “Kennedy’s rhetoric sets the US back at least a decade to a time rife with damaging stigma around autism that the community has fought hard to change.”

But many in the autism community don’t feel as Taylor and Gross do. Instead, they emphasize the positive — that having Kennedy lead the HHS and advocate for them will bring about a sea change. Where are their voices in the legacy media?

“After 20 years of denial and deception, a high-ranking federal official told us the truth: autism is an epidemic and threatens the very existence of our country,” wrote Mary Holland, CEO of Children's Health Defense, in an e-mail to The Kennedy Beacon. “Autism is causing severe suffering to most with that diagnosis, to their families and to their communities.”

Holland added, “Many people with autism have extraordinary gifts and lead happy fulfilling lives. But there is a critical subset of people having that diagnosis with profound disabilities.”

Lina H. Lyons, 21, a non-speaker who spells on letter boards, told the Beacon, “In my life, I have suffered so much. I have seen my family suffer with me. I have seen other people on the spectrum suffer. I need to acknowledge that Bobby Kennedy is a very aligned and brave man. He is fighting for me and other individuals on the spectrum. He sees that autism is indeed a consequence of something in the environment. He wants to align with science that discovers the cause of autism. I don’t understand why that is a terrible thing … I need to thank Bobby Kennedy for everything he tries to do.”

Holland detailed the kind of profound suffering Lyons and thousands of others endure: the inability to speak, seizures, autoimmune disorders, extraordinary sensitivities, anxiety, OCD and severe gut issues. She also said autism attacks the brain’s ability to execute fine motor coordination to speak but typically doesn’t impede the ability to think.

"I hope that this long-awaited acknowledgement that autism is caused by environmental factors will lead to a much more refined understanding of what autism really is and what the environmental toxic exposures are that are driving it,” Holland added.

Elsa Lyons, 19, Lina’s sister, e-mailed the Beacon, “Bobby was trying to illustrate the catastrophic nature of what happened to so many children,” she wrote. “His remarks were an attempt to reach people who don't understand how devastating this disorder can be and to generate urgency around the need to do more thorough research on vaccines and other potential environmental triggers.”

Elsa added, “It is the responsibility of every member of the autism community to support affected children and adults striving towards healthy, independent and richly textured lives. At the same time, it is the responsibility of the U.S. government to address soaring rates of autism and the realities of people living with it. People with autism defy the odds every day. RFK Jr. wants people to know what the odds are.”

Kim Rossi, who has three daughters with autism – 24, 28, and 30 – stated, “My daughters will need 24-seven care for the rest of their lives. They deserve answers, wherever they lead, whatever and whoever they implicate.”

Added Kevin Barry, the father of a profoundly affected child, “Bobby Kennedy told people the truth about what we’ve gone through. People want to minimize autism. Make it seem like it’s not that challenging when families dealing with it know the deal and how tough it is. Kennedy spoke out for people who everyone else in the government walked away from years ago.”

The latest criticism of Kennedy extends to the usual swath of ‘scientific experts’ aligned with Big Pharma, who are promoted by legacy media and who endlessly insist that the increase in autism is an artifact of better diagnosis, and that autism is a genetic disorder.

Dr. Peter Hotez is a member of that legacy media-Big Pharma cabal.

“Most of the rise in autism is not a true rise of autism, but an increase in diagnosis and because of changes in diagnostic criteria,” Dr. Peter Hotez told Time; he used almost the same language when he spoke to CNN last week. He’s a professor of pediatrics and molecular virology at Baylor and, it should be noted, also co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital’s Center for Vaccine Development.

Hotez was a frequent guest on CNN and MSNBC during the Covid pandemic. He specializes in softball interviews on friendly media outlets but ran for the hills when Joe Rogan invited him to debate Kennedy on autism on his podcast two years ago.

His mindset is what Kennedy says we must correct.

“One of the things I think we need to move away from today is this ideology that this diagnosis, rather [than] the relentless increases, are simply artifacts of better diagnoses, better recognition," Kennedy said during last Wednesday’s press conference. “Doctors and therapists in the past weren't stupid, they weren't missing all these cases. The epidemic is real."

Tony Lyons, co-founder of the AV24 Superpac that supported Kennedy’s presidential run and publishes the Beacon, said, “Bobby Kennedy blew the lid off the canard that autism is usually mild. He gave voice to over a million silenced children suffering year after year with incredible daily challenges.”

Added Lyons, who is Lina’s father, “Until we as a people understand that suffering and those challenges, we will never be able to combat the widespread epidemic of denialism that has stymied fundamental research into prevention or possible cures. This epidemic is literally a million times worse for children than Covid ever was.”

Lina’s mother, Helena Hjalmarsson, commended Kennedy for emphasizing the impact of profound autism. “If you have really seen your child, or the child of someone you are close to, suffer through the mayhem of autism, you will celebrate this idea that there is something in the environment that can be prevented. If you have watched your child disappear into frightening seizures and heartbreaking sensory disarray, you will welcome the idea of research to prevent other families from having to suffer the way yours did.”

Hjalmarsson added, “I am grateful for Bobby Kennedy’s willingness to fight for our children.”

Secretary Kennedy told America the truth about autism.

It is a hard truth but it is delivered by a man who Americans view as authentic and compassionate. A man who aspires to make Americans healthy again, who envisions a nation that embraces all people with autism and those impacted by it.

No, not every autistic child suffers equally. Each faces unique challenges.

But, most importantly, if we find the cause of autism, we will be able to identify potential treatments for all people with autism.

I think Americans have had enough of being told what to think and do by the same crew who did such a bang-up job managing the Covid pandemic.

The apparatchiks are wrong.

Kennedy is right.

As the father of two sons with autism – one profoundly impacted, one less so, I can tell you that Kennedy is spot on.

One of my sons with autism, Sam, functions well. He studied hard and his special education teachers did such an amazing job that he graduated high school. He now works two different jobs three days a week and participates in a rich variety of activities. Sam is a devoted Yankees fan.

My other son, Thomas, struggles with language, is not able to work and requires full-time supervision. There are times when his behavior is difficult and when he could injure himself. Thomas has suffered seizures and lives a more limited life.

Both boys are lovable and loving.

Both boys represent the reality of autism in America today. Their lives, and ours, are intertwined in what autism is – a disorder that will impact them for the rest of their lives. There are good days and really bad days. I would never tell you about one son without describing the other.

As Thomas’ and Sam’s father, I know Kennedy is on our side.

Ultimately, Kennedy’s autism mission is about hope — for people with autism, for ending the autism epidemic.

But we don’t get to hope without telling people the autism epidemic is a national crisis that needs all of our support – that needs to unite us with compassion, not divide us with fear.

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