Congressional Republicans on Autism and Vaccines

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the congressional role in the issue.

 Ariel Cohen at Roll Call:

“If you stir the pot on theories that have been disproven … it creates anxiety and a lot of self-recrimination,” Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., said when asked about Kennedy’s interest in the link between vaccines and autism. “But it’s not true, and it delays finding out what is the reason [for autism].”

Cassidy, who cast a deciding vote on the Senate Finance Committee to confirm Kennedy, was asked if Kennedy has been receptive to his point of view on vaccines and autism in their conversations. To that, Cassidy shrugged and responded, “look at his actions.”

The issue is personal for Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, who co-led the reauthorization of a major autism research and programs funding bill in 2024. Her husband has a severely autistic son.

“I think it’s helpful to look further into research on the causes of autism. I did not think that it was helpful in any way to link it to vaccines, because the scientific evidence does not support such a link,” Collins said when asked about the administration’s focus.

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Other Republicans are much more welcoming of the administration’s actions.

Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., praised Kennedy’s approach to autism research, arguing Republicans and Democrats alike should be thanking the Trump administration because because it is focused on stemming the growing autism diagnosis rate.
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Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J., has been involved in autism policy almost his entire career. Smith became interested in autism, especially profound autism, after hearing about the experiences of a family in his district. He recalled a time when the CDC spent less than $250,000 a year on autism research. With the passage of the 2024 autism legislation, spending has risen to $2 billion over a five-year span within multiple health agencies.

Smith, who says he supports vaccinations, praised removing thimerosal from vaccines and spreading out the childhood vaccination schedule, calling the administration’s focus “a breath of fresh air.”

“I mean, anyone who thinks there has not been a manifold spike in autism and say we’re just diagnosing it better, you know, I’ll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge,” he said. “If it turns out it’s not linked to getting vaccinations, OK. But the question should be asked.”

FDA Pulls Warning About Quack Autism "Cures"

In The Politics of Autism, I write:

The conventional wisdom is that any kind of treatment is likely to be less effective as the child gets older, so parents of autistic children usually believe that they are working against the clock. They will not be satisfied with the ambiguities surrounding ABA, nor will they want to wait for some future research finding that might slightly increase its effectiveness. They want results now. Because there are no scientifically-validated drugs for the core symptoms of autism, they look outside the boundaries of mainstream medicine and FDA approval. Studies have found that anywhere from 28 to 54 percent of autistic children receive “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), and these numbers probably understate CAM usage.

A lot of people in RFK Jr's MAHA orbit are making a lot of money from supplements. 

Megan O’Matz at Pro Publica:

The warning on the government website was stark. Some products and remedies claiming to treat or cure autism are being marketed deceptively and can be harmful. Among them: chelating agents, hyperbaric oxygen therapies, chlorine dioxide and raw camel milk.

Now that advisory is gone.

The Food and Drug Administration pulled the page down late last year. The federal Department of Health and Human Services told ProPublica in a statement that it retired the webpage “during a routine clean up of dated content at the end of 2025,” noting the page had not been updated since 2019. (An archived version of the page is still available online.)

Some advocates for people with autism don’t understand that decision. “It may be an older page, but those warnings are still necessary,” said Zoe Gross, a director at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a nonprofit policy organization run by and for autistic people. “People are still being preyed on by these alternative treatments like chelation and chlorine dioxide. Those can both kill people.”

Chlorine dioxide is a chemical compound that has been used as an industrial disinfectant, a bleaching agent and an ingredient in mouthwash, though with the warning it shouldn’t be swallowed. A ProPublica story examined Sen. Ron Johnson’s endorsement of a new book by Dr. Pierre Kory, which describes the chemical as a “remarkable molecule” that, when diluted and ingested, “works to treat everything from cancer and malaria to autism and COVID.”

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At his confirmation hearing, Kennedy praised Trump for his wide search for a COVID-19 remedy in his first term, which Kennedy said included vaccines, various drugs and “even chlorine dioxide.”

The FDA, dating back to at least 2010, has urged consumers not to purchase or drink chlorine dioxide, frequently marketed as a Miracle Mineral Solution, because “the solution, when mixed, develops into a dangerous bleach which has caused serious and potentially life-threatening side effects.”

The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) has previously reported on the removal of the FDA warnings page. The lack of a warning has also received attention in the Telegram channel Chlorine Dioxide Testimonies.

Kennedy and Vaccines

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

The  US has had at least 910 cases this year.  In 2016, there were only 86 cases all year long. Measles is not just a rash.  In some cases,i t can kill quickly -- or it can linger for years and then kill.

During his confirmation hearing, Kennedy made promises about vaccines. He has broken them.

Rebecca Robbins at NYT:

In Massachusetts, Moderna is pulling back on vaccine studies. In Texas, a small company canceled plans to build a factory that would have created new jobs manufacturing a technology used in vaccines. In San Diego, another manufacturing company laid off workers.

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was picked in November 2024 to become the next health secretary, public health experts worried that the longtime vaccine skeptic would wreak havoc on the fragile business of vaccine development.

Those fears are beginning to come true, according to executives and investors involved with companies that develop and sell vaccines and the technology that is best known for the Covid vaccines.

At conferences and in interviews, they described the emerging consequences of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the longstanding federal support for vaccines.

“There will be less invention, investment and innovation in vaccines generally, across all the companies,” Dr. Stephen Hoge, the president of Moderna, said in an interview.

The Trump administration said it was not discouraging innovation.

But investors have grown hesitant to bet on a field that has fallen out of favor in Washington. Major manufacturers are reporting declining sales of their shots. Smaller companies are taking the brunt of the impact, with some stocks whipsawing in response to the changes.

Autistic Job Candidates in Academia

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum.

Gabriel Proulx at Inside Higher Ed:

In general, autistic candidates are disadvantaged by standard interview formats, which, as Christopher E. Whelpley and Cynthia P. May write, tend to “focus on interview skills, appearance, and social interactions rather than on the skills needed for a given position.” Since autistic people’s social abilities and conversational patterns do not align with neurotypical criteria, they can seem rude or uninterested during conversations even when they are focused and engaged. Socialization can be extremely difficult for autistic people, from finding the right way to express their ideas to understanding when it is their turn to speak.

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Sandra C. Jones notes that autistic academics often struggle with the hidden social demands of professional life: “Understanding and following social rules, interpreting others’ actions and reactions, masking autistic behaviors, and combining ‘professional’ and ‘personal’ interactions are effortful activities for many autistic people.” In hiring contexts, where competition is fierce, these challenges become magnified.

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Academic interviews almost always include open-ended questions with little to no structure, such as “Tell us about yourself,” “What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?” or “What can you bring to our department?” Neurotypical candidates usually know how to use these questions as a chance to sell themselves; as Katie Maras, et al. write, “Autistic candidates, however, find it difficult to interpret these sorts of questions, hindering their ability to formulate and recall a relevant and appropriately detailed response that conveys their best attributes and most relevant experience.”

Profound Autism 2026

 In The Politics of Autism, I write:

The most basic questions trigger angry arguments. For instance, into what category do we put autism in the first place? In 2013, President Obama said that “we’re still unable to cure diseases like Alzheimer's or autism or fully reverse the effects of a stroke.” The language of “disease” and “cure” offends some in the autism community. “We don’t view autism as a disease to be cured and we don’t think we need fixing,” says Ari Ne’eman of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. “We do feel comfortable with the word disability because we understand what it means.” From this perspective, autism is difference that requires accommodation, not an illness that requires eradication. Adherents of this position liken autism to homosexuality, which psychiatrists once deemed to be a  disorder. Conversely, some parents take offense at opposition to a cure. “Anyone with the mental and verbal ability to challenge autism research is not autistic on a scale that I care to recognize,” writes autism parent James Terminello. “Opposition to finding a cure is particularly hurtful to parents who still mourn the loss of the child that could have been. A line has been crossed.”

Laura Ungar at AP:

There’s now a growing push to separate profound autism — in which people need constant care for life, have a certain level of intellectual disability and are nonspeaking or minimally verbal — into its own diagnosis. The hope is that it would help ensure that people like Connor and Ronan get the support and services they need and that research includes them.

In the United States, an estimated 1 in 31 children have autism spectrum disorder. Researchers estimate around a quarter have “profound autism,” a term introduced in 2021 by a group of experts, the Lancet Commission, to describe people most disabled by the developmental condition.

But some in the autism community worry that creating a separate diagnosis would reduce attention on the broader spectrum and the individual needs of everyone on it.

Andy Shih, chief science officer for Autism Speaks, said no matter where people fall on the debate, “there’s absolutely no doubt that we need to elevate awareness about the needs of this group.”

...

Judith Ursitti, president of the Profound Autism Alliance, is among those who now want profound autism separated out. People in this category lack appropriate treatments, supports and enough providers trained to handle their level of care, she said. And the vast majority of clinical research doesn’t include them.

“If you don’t have research, you won’t have treatments. You won’t have achievable services and supports,” said Ursitti, whose adult son has profound autism. “There are people across the spectrum who have high support needs that are intermittent. The difference with our population is they’re constant.”

But Dena Gassner of Drexel University’s autism institute -- an autistic senior research scientist and mother of an autistic adult with moderate support needs -- said she struggles with the idea of assigning someone the label of profound autism. She said it could be stigmatizing.

She said there’s nothing wrong with being autistic; the problem lies in “the massive lack of supports and services” in our society. “We need to come together in a unified voice to talk about services for the entirety of the spectrum.”

Measles, Vaccine Mandates, and Elections

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

The  US has had at least 910 cases this year.  In 2016, there were only 86 cases all year long. Measles is not just a rash.  In some cases,i t can kill quickly -- or it can linger for years and then kill.

Christina Jewett at NYT:

Longtime allies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, have launched a new effort to repeal laws that for decades have required children to be vaccinated against measles, polio and other diseases before they enter day care or kindergarten.

A newly formed coalition of vaccine activists is targeting laws that are considered the linchpin of protection from deadly diseases. States have long mandated childhood immunizations before children can start day care or school, though some exemptions are available.

“What we need to do is freaking burst the dam open,” Leslie Manookian, the backer of a law that banned medical mandates in Idaho, told supporters on a recent call. “And that is what this year is all about, bursting the dam open in the states where we think it can happen first.”

Ms. Manookian is a leader of the Medical Freedom Act Coalition, a new umbrella group of at least 15 nonprofit organizations advocating an end to state laws that codify what they call medical mandates, which largely pertain to vaccines.

So far, bills have been introduced in at least nine states that would eliminate all or nearly all school requirements, including Democratic states like New York where there is no chance of passage, to states such as New Hampshire, Georgia, Iowa and Idaho where the proposals have gained some traction.

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Yet one potent guardrail against weakening immunization mandates has emerged. A number of polls show that voters would penalize lawmakers who favor eliminating school requirements. In one recent poll, conducted by The Wall Street Journal, voters gave Democrats a 9 percent advantage over Republicans when asked which party is best suited to handle vaccine policy.

Two polls commissioned by vaccine backers and conducted by Republican-leaning firms found that voters in Florida and Tennessee would not support lawmakers who want to end school-vaccine mandates. One poll by Fabrizio Ward, a firm that President Trump relies on, found that swing voters in tight congressional races would strip about 20 percentage points from a Republican candidate who was critical of vaccines.

Measles in Mid-February: 910 Cases This Year

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

From CDC:

As of February 12, 2026, 910 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026. Among these, 904 measles cases were reported by 24 jurisdictions: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. A total of 6 measles cases were reported among international visitors to the United States.

There have been 5 new outbreaks** reported in 2026, and 90% of confirmed cases (822 of 910) are outbreak-associated (62 from outbreaks in 2026 and 760 from outbreaks that started in 2025).

In 2016, there were only 86 cases all year long. 

Measles can kill quickly -- or it can linger for years and then kill.

Elizabeth Bruenig at The Atlantic:

You will not think of his measles infection when he begins suffering muscle spasms in his arms and hands, nor when his pediatrician recommends that you see a neurologist. You realize you have entered a new nightmare when nurses affix metal electrodes to your son’s scalp with a cold conductive paste to perform an electroencephalogram to measure his brain waves. As the neurologist examines the results, she will note the presence of Radermecker complexes: periodic spikes in electrical activity that correlate with the muscle spasms that have become disruptive. She will order a test of his cerebrospinal fluid to confirm what she suspects: The measles never really left your son. Instead, the virus mutated and spread through the synapses between his brain cells, steadily damaging brain tissue long after he seemed to recover.

You will be sitting down in an exam room when the neurologist delivers the diagnosis of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a rare measles complication that leads to irreversible degeneration of the brain. There are treatments but no cure, the neurologist will tell you. She tells you that your son will continue to lose brain function as time passes, resulting in seizures, severe dementia, and, in a matter of two or three years, death. You look at your son, the glasses you picked out with him, the haircut he chose from the wall at the barbershop, the beating heart you gave him. You imagine your husband’s face when you break the news, the talks you will have with your daughter, your mother, your in-laws—though there is no way to prepare for what is coming. And you know that you, too, will never recover.

No Link Between COVID Vaccine and Autism

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

Liz Szabo at CIDRAP

A study today finds no increase in autism rates in babies born to mothers who received COVID-19 vaccines just before or during pregnancy, compared with children of unvaccinated moms.

The authors of the study, who presented their findings at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine 2026 Pregnancy Meeting, told CIDRAP News they hope the research will help dispel myths about COVID-19 vaccines, which multiple studies have found to be safe and effective during pregnancy.

Half of the 434 children in the study, conducted at 14 medical facilities from May 2024 to March 2025, were born to mothers who received at least one dose of an mRNA vaccine during or within 30 days before pregnancy. The other half of the children in the study were born to mothers who weren’t vaccinated before or during pregnancy.

Researchers evaluated toddlers between the ages of 18 months and 30 months for signs of autism using four standard screenings: the Ages and Stages Questionnaire Version 3 (ASQ-3), the Child Behavior Checklist, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, and the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire. None of these measures are used to make a definitive diagnosis of autism, but they can indicate a need for further testing.

When the researchers compared the scores on all four screening assessments, they found no significant differences between the children born to vaccinated mothers and those born to unvaccinated mothers.

“The fact that there were no differences on all four of these outcomes is evidence that COVID vaccination does not result in developmental concerns for most children,” said Alycia Halladay, PhD, chief science officer at the Autism Science Foundation, who was not involved in the new study. “For people who are worried that taking the COVID vaccine during pregnancy may cause autism, the study is pretty clear, convincing evidence that it does not.”

The authors of the study said its results are reassuring.

“We found no evidence in our study or in other studies that [the COVID] vaccine causes harm to the children,” said George R. Saade, MD, the new study’s first author and professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University.

Study: Prevalence Increase May Reflect Improved Identification

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the uncertainty surrounding estimates of autism prevalence. 

Furnier SM, Gangnon R, Durkin MS. Trends Over Time in the Prevalence of Autism by Adaptive and Intellectual Functioning Levels. Autism Res. 2026 Jan;19(1):e70167. doi: 10.1002/aur.70167. Epub 2025 Dec 28. PMID: 41457676; PMCID: PMC12853238. Abstract:

The autistic community is a large, growing, and heterogeneous population, and there is a need for improved methods to describe their diverse needs. Measures of adaptive functioning collected through public health surveillance may provide valuable information on functioning and support needs at a population level. We aimed to use adaptive behavior and cognitive scores abstracted from health and educational records to describe trends over time in the population prevalence of autism by adaptive level and co- occurrence of intellectual disability (ID). Using data from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, years 2000 to 2016, we estimated the prevalence of autism per 1000 8- year- old children by four levels of adaptive challenges (moderate to profound, mild, borderline, or none) and by co- occurrence of ID. The prevalence of autism with mild, borderline, or no significant adaptive challenges increased between 2000 and 2016, from 5.1 per 1000 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.6–5.5) to 17.6 (95% CI: 17.1–18.1) while the prevalence of autism with moderate to profound challenges decreased slightly, from 1.5 (95% CI: 1.2–1.7) to 1.2 (95% CI: 1.1–1.4). The prevalence increase was greater for autism without co- occurring ID than for autism with co- occurring ID. The increase in autism prevalence between 2000 and 2016 was confined to autism with milder phenotypes. This trend could indicate improved identification of milder forms of autism over time. It is possible that increased access to therapies that improve intellectual and adaptive functioning of children diagnosed with autism also contributed to the trends

RFK Jr. Lied About His Role in the Samoa Measles Outbreak

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

 Michelle R. Smith at The Guardian:

Over two days of questioning during his Senate confirmation hearings last year, Robert F Kennedy Jr repeated the same answer.

He said the closely scrutinized trip he took to Samoa in 2019, which came ahead of a devastating measles outbreak, had “nothing to do with vaccines”.

Documents obtained by the Guardian and the Associated Press undermine that testimony. Emails sent by staff at the US embassy and the United Nations provide, for the first time, an inside look at how Kennedy’s trip came about and include contemporaneous accounts suggesting his concerns about vaccine safety motivated the visit.

The documents have prompted concerns from at least one US senator that the lawyer and activist now leading America’s health policy lied to Congress over the visit. Samoan officials later said Kennedy’s trip bolstered the credibility of anti-vaccine activists ahead of the measles outbreak that sickened thousands and killed 83 people, mostly children under age five.

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The newly disclosed documents also reveal previously unknown details of the trip, including that a US embassy employee helped Kennedy’s team connect with Samoan officials. Kennedy, then running his anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, did not publicly discuss the trip at the time, but has since said his “purpose” for going there was not related to vaccines and that “I ended up having conversations with people, some of whom I never intended to meet.”

In addition to meeting with anti-vaccine activists, Kennedy met with Samoan officials, including the health minister at the time, who told NBC News that Kennedy shared his view that vaccines were not safe. Kennedy has said he went there to introduce a medical data system. 

California Judges' Knowledge of ASD

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between the justice system and autistic people.

Carolina R. Caliman et al, Brief report: A survey of California state court judges on a case vignette involving a defendant with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Research in Autism (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.reia.2026.202803

Abstract

Purpose
This brief report examines the impact of a defendant’s Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis, as well as the influence of expert testimony and genetic evidence, on the perceptions, knowledge, and sentencing views of a sample of state court judges in the U.S.

Methods
Data were collected from sixty-one California Superior Court judges who responded to a survey featuring a structured case study about a defendant diagnosed with ASD. The survey assessed judges’ views on the influence of the defendant’s ASD diagnosis and its genetic etiological influences on sentencing, responsibility, and perceptions of the defendant’s behavior.

Results
Findings indicate that most judges believe that an ASD diagnosis and its genetic influences would influence their sentencing decisions, with almost all considering it a mitigating factor to sentencing, but that it did not substantially affect a defendant’s legal responsibility. Survey responses revealed significant gaps in judges’ knowledge about ASD, underscoring the need for enhanced judicial training.

Conclusion
Findings highlight the influence of ASD and behavioral genetic evidence on judicial views and potential decision-making in cases involving defendants with ASD, indicating a clear need for improved access to education and resources on the disorder. Addressing these educational gaps can help the criminal justice system better accommodate the complexities associated with scientific and ASD evidence, which may promote more equitable treatment for defendants with ASD.

From the article:

This preliminary survey data revealed significant insights into how a defendant’s ASD diagnosis affected judges’ views of different case-related factors. Overall, almost all judges reported that the diagnosis of ASD would be influential in their sentencing decision in the case. These findings suggest that many judges appear sympathetic and cognizant of the challenges associated with ASD in sentencing contexts, with the large majority of judges here indicating that they believe ASD should be viewed as a potential mitigating factor; this is consistent with findings from prior work (Berryessa, 2014b, Berryessa, 2016b). Most judges also reported that knowledge of the genetic etiological influences on a defendant’s ASD was, to some extent, influential in shaping their views on the case, which aligns with previous findings (Berryessa, 2016a).

Most judges viewed the defendant’s legal responsibility to be unaffected by his ASD, which also complements findings from Berryessa (2014b). Yet they also reported that the expert testimony on ASD particularly influenced their views on the defendant’s criminal intention. This suggests that judges may view a defendant as fully legally responsible for his behavior but, at the same time, also deeply question his understanding of his own intentions, actions, and decision-making abilities. This differentiation is consistent with judges’ professional training and their obligation to assess legal responsibility within statutory boundaries; rather than reflecting misunderstanding, the observed difference between moral and legal responsibility likely represents a nuanced awareness of how autism may influence culpability without diminishing legal accountability (Freckelton and List, 2009, Grant et al., 2018). This may suggest that judges may also be likely to view ASD as relevant to other stages of the legal process in which defendants must make decisions; aligned with other work, examining competency to stand trial may be especially relevant, as a defendant’s difficulties in understanding the intent of his own actions could also lead to challenges in comprehending the trial process and assisting in his defense (Brewer et al., 2016, Mayes, 2003). Although an ASD diagnosis alone typically does not meet the statutory criteria for insanity defenses in the United States, ASD-related evidence might be used by attorneys to contextualize behavior and argue for mitigation (Caliman and Berryessa, 2025a, Caliman and Berryessa, 2025b). This approach mirrors the broader defense strategies observed in recent qualitative work, where attorneys emphasize diminished moral culpability, communication challenges, or atypical reasoning patterns to seek leniency and appropriate accommodations for defendants with ASD (Caliman & Berryessa, 2025b).

Additionally, almost all judges reported that the expert testimony influenced their opinions of the case in some way, indicating a potential openness to different types of expert evidence in cases involving ASD (Berryessa, 2017). A small subset of judges, however, reported that the expert testimony did not alter their opinions, which might indicate prior familiarity with ASD or prior experience with defendants with ASD. The findings of this study offer valuable insights for expert witnesses, emphasizing aspects of cases involving ASD, such as criminal intention and dangerousness, that judges may believe are most affected by expert testimony. Similar patterns appear in jury research, where providing accurate information about ASD improves understanding of atypical behavior and leads to less punitive judgments (Baker et al., 2025, Berryessa et al., 2015, Brewer et al., 2016, Maras et al., 2019). These parallels suggest that both jurors and judges benefit from targeted psychoeducation to reduce stigma and support informed decision-making.

Results also revealed significant gaps in judges’ knowledge about ASD and behavioral genetics. Most judges rated their knowledge as slight to moderate, with very few judges rating it as high–aligning with previous work emphasizing the need for better judicial education on complex scientific topics (Berryessa, 2016b, Berryessa, 2019). Most judges expressed an interest in formal training in order to obtain forensic information about ASD and genetics, underscoring the need for comprehensive training programs and continuing education through conferences. By enhancing their knowledge, judges may improve their ability to critically evaluate expert testimony on ASD as well as genetic evidence, mitigating the risk of over-reliance on such evidence and preventing the misuse of unqualified testimony in judicial decision-making processes.

 

RFK Jr's IACC Appointees

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee and research priorities.

RFK Jr. has stacked it with his own type of people.

 David Gilbert at Wired:

Among those appointed last week was Daniel Rossignol, a doctor who was sued for alleged fraud after prescribing a 7-year-old autistic child a debunked and dangerous treatment. Tracy Slepcevic, an appointee who Kennedy calls a “dear friend,” offers exposure to a wide range of bogus autism cures at her annual Autism Health Summit, including one that involves the injection of animal stem cells into children. Another appointee, Toby Rogers, has claimed that “no thinking person vaccinates” and that vaccine makers are “poisoning children.” Rogers is a fellow at the Brownstone Institute for Social and Economic Research and has also called vaccines “one of the greatest crimes in human history.” He has written articles for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy that has linked autism to vaccines.

Other appointees are no different: John Gilmore founded the Autism Action Network and has said that his autistic son is “vaccine injured.” Gilmore is also the founder of the New York chapter of Kennedy’s Children’s Health Defense group. Ginger Taylor, the former director of the Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice, has publicly claimed that many autism cases involve “vaccine causation.” Elizabeth Mumper has written for Children’s Health Defense and is a senior fellow with the Independent Medical Alliance, a group formerly known as the Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance that has promoted ivermectin as a treatment for Covid.

733

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

 Youri Benadjaoud at ABC:

There have been at least 733 confirmed measles cases reported across the nation, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed Friday.

In just a few weeks, the United States reported four times as many cases than typically seen throughout an entire calendar year, the CDC said.

Before last year, which had a record breaking 2,276 cases, the U.S. averaged 180 cases annually since measles was declared eliminated in 2000.

The record numbers come as South Carolina is dealing with the largest outbreak recorded in recent memory.

Meghan Bartels at Scientific American:

A straightforward case of measles is nasty—but the disease’s complications are even worse. One of those complications has been confirmed in the ongoing, record-breaking measles outbreak in South Carolina: encephalitis, or brain swelling.

South Carolina state epidemiologist Linda Bell confirmed the complication was occurring there during a media briefing on February 4, according to Wired. Bell did not specify the number of people who were affected or how serious their cases were.

Encephalitis occurs in about one of every 1,000 measles cases and kills about one in five people who develop it. The complication is not well understood but appears to be the result of the virus prompting the immune system to attack a certain protein that some brain cells produce.

As of February 3, South Carolina had reported 876 cases of measles related to the outbreak in its upstate region. Most of those cases are in children who were not vaccinated against the disease. Since January 2025, nearly 3,000 people have been reported as infected with measles in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University’s independent tracking. The 2,267 cases that occurred in the U.S. last year represent the nation’s highest annual total since 1991. The virus’s continued spread is likely to end the 25-year streak in which measles has been officially deemed eliminated in the U.S., experts say.