The Spectrum Act

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss gender differences in autism identification.

Joseph Choi at The Hill:

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) introduced a bill [HR 9436] Friday aimed at addressing the underdiagnosis and late diagnosis of autism in women and girls.

Along with GOP Reps. Claudia Tenney (N.Y.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Khanna introduced the Spectrum Act, which would authorize the director of the National Science Foundation to award grants for research into how autism is approached when it comes to women and girls.

Male patients are diagnosed with autism at a rate four times higher than their female counterparts. In recent years, there has been a growing consensus that female patients go undiagnosed or are diagnosed with autism later in life due to differences in how it presents in comparison to male patients.

Girls may be more likely to “mask” the signs of autism, or adults in their life may be more likely to overlook symptoms.

...

The Spectrum Act would provide funding for research into “masking” in women and girls as well as the “double empathy problem” theory first proposed by British autism researcher Damian Milton.

His theory argues against the notion that autistic people have less empathy, and instead proposes people with autism and nonautistic people lack mutual understanding of each others’ experiences, making it difficult for them to empathize with each other.

Emma Preston, a senior policy adviser for Khanna, said her own “lived experiences” informed her pushing the lawmaker to look into the issue.

“I had asked him if we could pursue it last year; at the time, I was trying to better understand my own lived experiences and whether they fell under the umbrella of neurodivergence. I quickly realized that the existing research focused almost exclusively on boys, with hardly any variation in gender, race, or income,” Preston said.

Steve Silberman, RIP

In The Politics of Autism, I write about the everyday struggles facing autistic people. Steve Silberman chronicled those struggles 

Steve Silberman at Scientific American:

A recent study by Rutgers University’s Annabelle Mournet and colleagues concluded that autistic people may be even more powerfully motivated to seek out friendships and community than nonautistic people. These desires are often frustrated by widespread misconceptions about autism, particularly the assumption that people on the spectrum aren’t interested in seeking comfort and support in the company of others. “Autistic adults cannot be assumed to have fewer social connections—or less desire to have social connections,” Mournet wrote in Spectrum. “Our field must work to dismantle these damaging and inaccurate notions.” Dismantling these false notions matters urgently, Mournet points out, because autistic adults are at high risk for suicide, and having a network of supportive connections protects against suicidal ideation.

The tendency of neurotypicals to stigmatize autistic behavior as weird and off-putting also hampers the formation of relationships. This process unfolds subconsciously—even in the first few seconds of interaction, observes Noah Sasson, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Dallas whose work is deeply informed by the insights of autistic colleagues like Monique Botha. By conducting a study of neurotypicals’ first impressions of autistic people (known in psychology as “thin-slice judgments”), Sasson and his colleagues determined that negative reactions to autistic adults’ atypical body language, facial expressions, tone of voice and frequency of eye contact lead neurotypicals to be less inclined to pursue further interactions. These thin-slice judgments pervasively harm autistic adults’ attempts to find employment, build networks of support and navigate the social landscape in ways that lead to happy, secure and successful lives.

From the Autistic Self Advocacy Network:

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network mourns the passing of Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes and a longtime friend of ASAN and the neurodiversity movement.

In the writing of NeuroTribes, Steve brought to bear his formidable skills as a writer to tell the story of autism history in ways that few in the public had then been aware of. His book played a groundbreaking role in changing the public conversation on autism, elevating the concept of neurodiversity and the voices of autistic people into the mainstream. In writing NeuroTribes, Steve embedded himself in the autistic community, attending Autreat and other community gatherings as well as participating wholeheartedly in both online and offline autistic culture spaces.

He also traveled the world to understand the hidden history of autism over the years, uncovering crucial information on the early history of the diagnosis that had not previously been brought to light. In sharing these stories with his exceptional literary ability, Steve’s work educated the public about the autistic self-advocacy and neurodiversity movements and helped to empower ASAN’s advocacy work.

Though not autistic himself, Steve worked hard to bring autistic people into the conversation, contributing to our shared effort to build a world in which autistic people can enjoy full equality, inclusion and dignity. We are grateful to him for his years of work as a part of our movement and shared community.

Steve is survived by his husband and sister. ASAN extends our condolences to them and joins them in mourning this tremendous loss.

Matthew Rozsa at Salon:

Steve Silberman was one of the greatest writers to ever put pen to paper about the subject of neurodiversity. Yet Silberman was not autistic; I learned this because, on the one occasion we had a conversation that made it to print, I accidentally claimed he was.

I erroneously believed that to be the case because, when Silberman wrote about neurodiversity for Wired, he wrote with a passion and authority that could not be denied. When Silberman explored the concerns of people who are neurologically different, he had the detailed knowledge of an expert — and the empathy of someone who has also walked the walk. This is why he is perhaps best known for authoring "NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity," a 500-page classic that is part detailed historical narrative, part scathing sociological critique. With "NeuroTribes," Silberman traced how society has attempted to diagnose and treat autism, as well as by extension other neurodivergent conditions. Yet instead of centering the doctors, parents and other "normal" people, Silberman kept the neurodivergent people themselves as the focus of his work.

Blue Envelopes in Vermont

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between first responders and autistic people.  Some jurisdictions allow autistic drivers to ask for a blue envelope to disclose the driver's diagnosis in case of an accident or traffic stop.  Others have ID cards.

 Jenn Jarecki and Nathaniel Wilson at Vermont Public Radio:

The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles recently unveiled a new program aimed at easing challenges for autistic drivers and the law enforcement officers who engage them.

Some autistic people experience the senses more intensely than neurotypical people: flashing police lights, for example. And there can be differences in communication, which can lead to behaviors being misinterpreted.

The DMV’s Blue Envelope Program is designed to make routine traffic stops feel safer and less stressful.

Vermont Public's Jenn Jarecki was recently joined in-studio by Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Wanda Minoli to learn more about the program. This interview was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.

...
Jenn Jarecki: I understand that other states have similar programs, like neighbors in Connecticut and Massachusetts, to name just a couple. How much influence did that existing work have on what's ultimately been rolled out here in Vermont?

Wanda Minoli: Well, for us, we used the other states' model of the envelope and started there. Don't reinvent the wheel. If there's a successful program out there, then, you know, state to state, we try to model. And that's really, really important because when you think about this program, and you think about our residents and our New England states, we don't drive just in Vermont. We may take a vacation to Maine, we may be traveling to Massachusetts for something, and you possibly could be stopped roadside. And what we have now is consistent messaging for all law enforcement, and that applies for people driving into our state. So, when they hand the blue envelope over, all law enforcement is aware. They know exactly what they're getting and what this document means, and that's really important, too.

RFK Jr. on Trump Transition Team

 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 number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.

 Another leading anti-vaxxer is presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.  Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism.  He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen."

He recently ran for president as an independent and has now endorsed Trump.

Maggie Haberman et al. at NYT:

Donald J. Trump plans to name his former rival, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard, a one-time Democrat, as honorary co-chairs of a presidential transition team that will help him select the policies and personnel of any second Trump administration, according to a campaign senior adviser.

Mr. Kennedy, who ended his independent campaign for president and endorsed Mr. Trump on Friday, described his transition role briefly in an interview that aired Monday.

“I’ve been asked to go on the transition team, you know, and to help pick the people who will be running the government,” Mr. Kennedy told Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, in an interview posted on X.

...
When Mr. Kennedy announced on Friday that he was suspending his campaign and backing Mr. Trump, he had said that the former president had “asked to enlist me” in a second Trump administration, later elaborating that his role would involve health care and food and drug policy.

 

On Monday, Mr. Trump told reporters that he had not talked with Mr. Kennedy about making him his Health and Human Services secretary, but added that he “knows a lot about the subject and has been very well received by the party.” Advisers close to Mr. Trump and Mr. Kennedy acknowledge that Mr. Kennedy would face an uphill battle to pass Senate confirmation for any job and might be better suited for a role that does not require Senate confirmation.

Mr. Kennedy had also discussed a role in the first Trump administration.

In early January 2017, Mr. Kennedy met in Trump Tower with Mr. Trump, who was at the time president-elect and had expressed skepticism of vaccines during his campaign. After the meeting, Mr. Kennedy told reporters waiting in the lobby of the building that Mr. Trump had asked him to chair a “commission on vaccine safety and scientific integrity.”

There was an immediate backlash. Mr. Kennedy has a long history of spreading disproved theories imputing harm to childhood vaccines, including falsely linking them to autism. After concerns were raised, Mr. Trump’s aides talked Mr. Trump out of the idea and the Kennedy vaccine committee never materialized.

Autism and Mental Health

The Politics of Autism discusses health care, and explains that autism services can be complicated, creating difficulties for autistic people and their families. 

 Emily Alpert Reyes at LAT:

Some researchers have estimated that upward of 90% of autistic youth have overlapping conditions like anxiety, depression or ADHD. Many have suffered alarming levels of trauma.

Yet “there are very few specialized facilities in the country that meet the unique needs of individuals with autism and co-occurring mental health conditions,” especially in crisis situations, said Cynthia Martin, senior clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, which is based in New York.

Between 2020 and 2021, the number of California children and teens served by the state developmental disability system who were deemed to have “complex needs” — a state term for those who needed a range of crisis services or landed in a locked psychiatric ward — rose from 536 to 677, according to a report released last year by the California Department of Developmental Services.
...

Autistic people and their families have also lamented that they cannot find adequate help in their communities before they reach a crisis point. Researchers have found that mental health workers are often unprepared to work with people with intellectual or developmental disabilities or may chalk up symptoms to their disabilities, rather than overlapping needs.

“It’s pretty common for a mental health practitioner to turn away someone with a developmental disability or say, ‘I don’t serve that population,’” said Zoe Gross, director of advocacy for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.

Cornel West Seeks Antivax Support

 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.

Many posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.

Matt Wilstein at The Daily Beast:

Independent presidential candidate Cornel West seems to see an opening in the field after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped his bid for the office this past week. In what appeared to be a blatant play for RFK Jr.’s supporters—who Donald Trump is hoping will go to him after getting that candidate’s endorsement—West posted a video on social media Sunday that co-opted the anti-vaccine message that had been central to Kennedy’s campaign. “I want to speak to my brothers and sisters of all colors who are concerned, not just about the vaccine but the role of the pharmaceutical companies in shaping public policy,” West said in his video. “I propose a COVID-19 Truth Commission to explore the disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, seek reparations, and ensure justice and equity in our future responses,” he wrote, before echoing Kennedy’s anti-censorship message: “We must also challenge the censorship that silences diverse voices in these critical conversations.” Kennedy, meanwhile, has adopted the slogan “Make America Healthy Again” in his newfound crusade to get Trump elected.

Flashback: Trump, RFK Jr. and Vaccines in 2018

 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 number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.

 Another leading anti-vaxxer is presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.  Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism.  He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen."

He recently ran for president as an independent and has now endorsed Trump.

Philip Bump at WP:

“President Trump has told me that he wants this” — fixing “chronic disease” primarily by getting kids to eat better, apparently — “to be his legacy,” Kennedy said. “I’m choosing to believe at this time he will follow through.”

David Smith at The Guardian, February 21, 2018:

Donald Trump appears to have abandoned plans to investigate the spurious link between childhood immunisations and autism, a move welcomed by experts but condemned by Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vaccine sceptic.

The son of former US attorney general Bobby Kennedy met Trump in New York during the presidential transition in January last year and announced that he had been asked to chair a commission to review vaccine safety.

Scientists warned that it would give credence to debunked theories, while a Trump spokeswoman denied any decision had been made.

Then, a year ago this week, Kennedy told reporters he had met “many times” with members of Trump’s transition team, “trading documents about what the commission would look like”. But little has been heard of the plan since then.

“I would say there’s zero progress,” Kennedy told the Guardian last week. “We were told President Trump wanted to meet directly with us. Not only did nothing happen, they’ve cut off all communication with people who care about this issue. The administration has decided to go in another direction.”

Kennedy, 64, has had no contact with the White House for at least six months and made no secret of his dismay. “I’ve seen a tremendous deflation among a community of parents and children’s health advocates across the country who believed the promises that President Trump made to the campaign, who put tremendous faith in him and now are feeling enormous betrayal and disappointment.”

Trump, Kennedy, and Vaccines

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by llowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.

A number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.

 Another leading anti-vaxxer is presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.  Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism.  He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen."

He recently ran for president as an independent and yesterday endorsed Trump.

Alex Griffing at Mediaite:

Former President Donald Trump welcomed RFK Jr.’s endorsement on Friday after the independent candidate suspended his campaign and said he would “throw” his support behind the GOP nominee for president.

Trump spoke at a campaign stop in Las Vegas and called Kennedy a “really a terrific guy.”

“I’ve had a long-term friendship with him. He’s a very talented person. It’s an honor. He just announced, and it’s a great honor, really, is. He’s very popular, he’s very smart, he has a great family, wonderful family, and so I’m going to say hello to him now,” Trump said.


Kennedy said during his remarks that Trump had asked him to “enlist him in his administration” and would likely have some kind of a role surrounding the “chronic disease epidemic.” Kennedy has long been an activist, questioning the use of vaccines and vaccine mandates to eradicate diseases.

A reporter asked Trump about some of Kennedy’s past statements on the topic, including his criticism of the Covid-19 vaccines, which Trump’s administration championed with “Operation Warp Speed” inorder to get them to the public quickly. Trump’s administration fast-tracked the vaccines by removing red tape surrounding the regular vaccine testing protocols.

“RFK Jr. has falsely said that the COVID vaccine is the deadliest vaccine ever made. What’s your response to that?” the reporter asked.

Trump dodged the question and replied, “Well, I’m going to have to see because I haven’t seen him yet. I’m going to see him in a little while.”

Trump rarely discusses his role in getting the COVID-19 vaccines to the public in recent months – a notable departure from his past boasting on the topic.

A day before he'll reportedly drop from the race, RFK Jr. released an 11-minute video on his stance on vaccines that's just riddled with anti-vaccine propaganda and mischaracterizations. It reminds me of my last conversation with Kennedy for this profile. https://t.co/8gWlPTm0KV pic.twitter.com/gPIyM6ZyCf

— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) August 22, 2024

Gus

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns. As in 2020, the Democrats have a detailed plank on disability. 

Shardaa Gray and Jason Rantala at CBS:

One of the most talked-about moments from Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention was the son of vice-presidential hopeful, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, openly weeping as he clapped for his father, shouting "That's my dad!"

Seventeen-year-old Gus Walz's parents recently told media that he has a non-verbal learning disorder, ADHD and an anxiety disorder. They called his condition "his secret power." And that power is giving a number of others a chance to understand his condition.

Unlike learning disorders that make it difficult for a child to learn to read, a non-verbal learning disorder affects different kinds of learning, including the ability to notice patterns and learn concepts, according to the Child Mind Institute.

Amanda Timmerman, a speech language pathologist at CST Academy in Chicago, says a neurodivergent person is a person on the autism spectrum or someone whose brain processes information in a way that is not typical of most individuals.

Michael Collins at USA Today:

Advocates for Americans with learning disabilities believe the Walz family's openness about their son and their willingness to speak publicly about the experience will raise much-needed visibility that could help others who are going through similar experiences.

“It’s a good thing when people in politics, who are running for office, are comfortable discussing disability issues and don’t view it as a topic that is taboo or something that we shouldn’t discuss,” said Zoe Gross, director of advocacy for the Washington-based Autistic Self Advocacy Network. 

 When public figures are open about their experiences with disability or those of their family, that can lead more people to feel comfortable disclosing their own disabilities or talking about their family’s experiences, Gross said.

“That’s helpful,” she said, “because in order to talk about the needs of the disability community, we need to be comfortable discussing disability as a society, just like we talk about the needs of any marginalized population.”

John Oliver Takes Down RFK Jr.

 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 number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.

 Another leading anti-vaxxer is presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.  Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism.  He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen."

He is now running for president as an independent and is reportedly about to withdraw in favor of Trump.

John Oliver:

Regional Centers and Unspent Funds

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss services for people with disabilities.

Regional centers are private nonprofits that contract with California's Department of Developmental Services to coordinate or provide services for people with developmental disabilities. The 21 regional centers help disabled people and their families find and access a variety of services.

Emily Alpert Reyes at LAT:

Nearly $1 billion allocated for regional agencies that purchase supportive services for Californians with developmental disabilities went unspent in a recent year and was ultimately returned to the state, even as some disabled people and their families said they needed more help.

California provides assistance to people with autism and other developmental disabilities through a system of nonprofits called regional centers, which are contracted with the California Department of Developmental Services. Twenty-one of them exist across the state, each serving a distinct area. More than 400,000 California children and adults are served through the regional centers annually.

The system has been criticized for persistent gaps in spending on services for Californians of different races and in different regions. Families have complained it can be difficult to navigate.

...

Disabled people are legally entitled to such services in California, so “if the system is running short of resources, then the obligation shifts to the administration to seek additional resources from the legislature,” Westling said. “It really is designed to ensure that we have the resources necessary to meet people’s needs.”

But to attorney Valerie Vanaman, who represents people with disabilities and their families, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars unspent is a symptom of a system “that is falling apart.”

Vanaman said the pandemic led to regional centers losing experienced professionals and that working remotely had harmed the kind of collaboration needed to make sure people get the services they need.

“What you’re seeing is that where services should have been put together, where the money would have been spent, there was no internal structure to make it happen,” Vanaman said.

Areva Martin, chief executive of the nonprofit Special Needs Network Inc., said she understood the unusual circumstances facing regional centers amid COVID. “Even taking into account those things,” she said, “I think it speaks to a level of bureaucracy that makes regional centers very difficult to navigate.”

“It is disheartening to meet families who don’t have adequate services, who don’t have adequate resources, and then to hear about a billion dollars being returned,” Martin said.

Democratic Platform on Disabilities

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns. As in 2020, the Democrats have a detailed plank on disability.  The Republican platform does not even mention the word.

From the 2024 Democratic Platform:

People with disabilities have long strengthened our economy and expanded our nation’s possibilities. And, groundbreaking legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act have made significant strides toward equal opportunity for people with disabilities. But there is more work to do. People with disabilities are three times less likely to have a job, and when they do, they are often paid less money for doing the same work.

Democrats are taking action to fix that. President Biden signed an executive order establishing a government-wide commitment to advancing equality and equity in federal employment, including for people with disabilities. The Labor Department is protecting workers with disabilities and fighting to end unjust employment practices. The Administration is helping state and local governments, businesses, and nonprofits access federal funds to hire more disabled Americans. And President Biden is making sure his Administration looks like America, appointing people with disabilities to positions all across our government. He is making the federal government a model employer when it comes to wages, accommodations, and opportunities to advance for people with disabilities. And he’s helping young people with disabilities transition from education to employment through the Disability Innovation Fund.

Democrats will enforce laws that ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities: the ADA, IDEA, the Fair Housing Act, the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Mental Health Parity Act, and the Help America Vote Act. We oppose efforts to weaken the ADA and build on the ACA to prevent health care discrimination. Democrats will enforce the Olmstead integration mandate and enforce

non-discrimination protections in health care, employment, education, housing, voting. We

will promote equitable treatment of students with disabilities so every child with disabilities can thrive. And to support people with disabilities and their families, we will support home and community-based care and end the subminimum wage.

President Biden is also working to improve health care for people with disabilities. The Administration released a rule barring providers from denying medical treatments related to organ donations or lifesaving care for disabled Americans based on their disability alone. It launched long COVID clinical trials and created the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice. The National Institutes of Health designated people with disabilities a “health disparity population,” unlocking new resources for research. President Biden also signed an executive order increasing access to quality care and supporting caregivers; as well as historic legislation that expands home- and community-based services under Medicaid.

Accessible public spaces are essential to ensuring equal opportunity for people with disabilities. Democrats have invested in accessible infrastructure, including rail station accessibility and actions to make airports and airplanes more accessible. And Democrats passed and President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which expanded access to affordable broadband, an especially important step for people with disabilities.

Trump has a long record of discrimination against people with disabilities, including publicly mocking them. His business has faced a series of lawsuits for failing to comply with the ADA. Discrimination complaints from federal workers with disabilities employed at Cabinet-level agencies increased 20 percent while he was president, and in his first year in office, the number of people with disabilities fired by the government increased 24 percent, with workers with disabilities fired at almost two times the rate of workers without disabilities.

 Democrats will enforce laws that ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities: the ADA, IDEA, the Fair Housing Act, the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Mental Health Parity Act, and the Help America Vote Act. We oppose efforts to weaken the ADA and build on the ACA to prevent health care discrimination. Democrats will enforce the Olmstead integration mandate and enforce on-discrimination protections in health care, employment, education, housing, voting. We will promote equitable treatment of students with disabilities so every child with disabilities can thrive. And to support people with disabilities and their families, we will support home and community-based care and end the subminimum wage

Trump repeatedly proposed billions in cuts to Social Security Disability Insurance and called for restrictions on eligibility and benefit cutbacks. He called to cut funding for special education grants and eliminate federal funding for the Special Olympics. He has promised to close the Department of Education, threatening enforcement of IDEA protections for students with disabilities. And he rescinded guidance protecting students with disabilities, including guidance aimed at ensuring students with disabilities were not unfairly disciplined.

.

Inclusion and Clinical Trials

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss research priorities.

From the National Council on Disability:

Today, the National Council on Disability (NCD) released a timely report on exclusionary practices that prevent people with disabilities from participating in clinical trials.

The Implicit and Explicit Exclusion of People with Disabilities in Clinical Trials discusses how healthcare practitioners’ internal biases and federal policies contribute to the participation rates, and how the disparity affects people with disabilities and the efficacy of clinical trials.

Federal agencies have made efforts to address exclusionary practices pertaining to people with disabilities, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ explicit requirements of clinical trials inclusion in the amended Section 504 regulations. However, much work remains to ensure that people with disabilities are meaningfully included in clinical trials.

“A significant step forward was made last September when the NIH finally recognized individuals with disabilities as a health disparities population,” said NCD Chair Claudia Gordon.

“Building upon this progress, our report underscores the alarming reality that people with disabilities are systematically excluded from crucial clinical trials,” said Gordon. “To effectively address health disparities, HHS must prioritize this issue as a connected policy matter across the entire department.”

Special Ed Shortage: Supply and Demand

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss social services, special education, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

Chad Aldeman at Education Next:

Is there a shortage of special education teachers in America’s public schools? If so, why? And how can policymakers fix it?

The first question sounds like an easy one. Yes, there is a shortage of special education teachers. In 2023–24, more than half of districts and 80 percent of states reported such a shortage.

If you doubt the self-reported data, a simple back-of-the-envelope calculation will lead you to the same conclusion. About 46,000 special education teachers leave public schools every year, while teacher preparation programs are training fewer than 30,000 new ones to replace them. Even if districts can supplement those new trainees with teachers who are re-entering the profession, that still makes for a very tight labor market.

These numbers might lead policymakers to conclude that special education shortages are largely a supply problem, but that is not so. Over time, the number of people working in special education roles has risen rapidly, but the demand for them has risen even faster. In fact, I estimate that demand-side growth can account for about two-thirds of the gap between school districts’ annual hiring needs and the number of new special education teachers being produced. Supply-side solutions are not likely to close this gap on their own.

Autism in France

  In The Politics of Autism, I discuss international perspectives.

In the past, France was a laggard in autism services, in part as a result of the malign influence of psychoanalysis.

There are signs of progress.

 The Connexion:

Earlier this year the French government launched an autism awareness campaign on TV and in cinemas to help people “better understand” the condition.

It featured celebrities who have been directly affected by autism, whether as the parents of autistic children, such as comedian Élie Semoun, actor Francis Perrin and screenwriter Minh Tran Huy, those who have siblings with it, or those who have been diagnosed themselves.

"There are 700,000 autistic people in France," said Fadila Khattabi, Secretary of State in charge of People with Disabilities and who introduced the campaign in April.

"We want to help society better understand how these people evolve, and how their exclusion is unjustified. Disabled people are fellow citizens in their own right... and not apart."

The short clips focused especially on the communication difficulties of autistic people and their sensory hypersensitivity.

Read more: 'Being neurodivergent is challenging in Paris'

Presidents and Disabilities

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

I have an article at The Forum: "Disability Policy in the Contemporary Congress." Abstract:

The politics of disability policy in the contemporary Congress confirms the observation by James Curry and Frances Lee that lawmaking largely remains a process of bipartisan accommodation. Most major disability legislation since the 1970s has passed with bipartisan sponsorship and support. One reason is that the issue affects so many Americans, including members of Congress. There have been some exceptions to this bipartisan pattern, particularly when disability policy intersects with more contentious issues. And bipartisanship does not guarantee outcomes that are satisfactory to people with disabilities.

Trump's nephew recently quoted him as saying that people with severe disabilities should "just die."

Trump is an outlier among presidents.

Gary Blumenthal at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

President John F. Kennedy, with the support of his sister Eunice Shriver, awakened the nation to the plight of people with mental health and intellectual disabilities. He created a special council, then known as the President’s Council on Mental Retardation, and then the Community Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act of 1963, demonstrating the government’s investment in helping people with such challenges, and providing a precedent for more programs as understanding of needs improved.

Successive presidents built upon this legacy. President Lyndon Johnson enacted both Medicare and Medicaid to fund federal and state partnerships. Not specifically directed at the ID/A community, it made practical the nation’s commitment to the health of the most vulnerable and created the primary source for state and community disability programs.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon issued an Executive Order to encourage the establishment of community-based programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In 1975 President Gerald Ford signed the nation’s first education law requiring states and local school districts to provide educational services to children with disabilities.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter responded to nationwide protests by issuing federal regulations to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which ensured that individuals with disabilities are not excluded from or discriminated against in federally funded programs.

Through a bipartisan effort, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law, ensuring that the promises of America extended to all its citizens, opening up employment, housing, and opportunities for people with disabilities, including people with intellectual disabilities and autism.

If Fred Trump III's account of Donald Trump's words that day in the Oval Office are true, it should be a wakeup call.

We must never accept such ignorance and cruelty from a candidate for president or anyone else in public life — or from relatives or friends. That attitude betrays the values that define us as a nation — one that should lift up its most vulnerable citizens, not give up on them and certainly not wish them dead.

RFK Jr and Misinformation

 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 number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.

 Another leading anti-vaxxer is presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.  Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism.  He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen."

He is now running for president as an independent

Kennedy is a case study of how antivax sentiment overlaps with conspiracy theory and antisemitism.

Anna Merlan at Mother Jones:

Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign hosted an online panel Wednesday on the future of AI moderated, for some reason, by Ian Carroll, a self-styled journalist with a history of antisemitic statements.

In the course of the conversation, Kennedy admitted that he “gets manipulated by AI all the time.”

“Somebody will send me something and I’ll go ‘Holy cow, did you see this?’,” he said, describing how he credulously forwards fake content to his children, only for them to have to correct him. (Kennedy said that, unlike him, his children can identify fake images “immediately.”)

...

Neither Kennedy’s campaign nor Carroll responded to requests for comment about why Carroll was chosen to helm the panel or his prolific and bigoted internet history. As the publication Jewish Insider pointed out on Wednesday, just a few weeks ago he proclaimed on X that the US is “controlled by an international criminal organization that grew out of the Jewish mob and now hides in modern Zionism behind cries of ‘antisemitism.’”

Carroll has also tweeted that popular understanding of the Holocaust is characterized by “lots of bad numbers and misreporting,” and suggested in March that there’s something suspicious about the three marriages Shanahan has shared with Jewish men, while promising he would dig into the matter. (It’s not clear he did, and, even before Wednesday’s panel, Shanahan had since appeared on his podcast.)