ASAN Opposes the RFK Nomination

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 Trump's nominee to head HHS.

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network opposes the nomination:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the founder of Children’s Health Defense, a prominent anti-vaccine group. He has claimed that no vaccine has been proven safe and effective, that the recommended vaccine schedule for children is dangerous, and that “autism does come from vaccines.” He has also fought against COVID-19 vaccination, falsely calling an early COVID vaccine “the deadliest vaccine ever made.”

Vaccines are safe and effective. Vaccines do not cause autism. The idea that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is linked to autism comes from one fraudulent 1998 publication claiming that the vaccine had caused autistic traits in 12 children. The man responsible for this publication, Andrew Wakefield, used unethical methods and failed to disclose financial conflicts of interest. The paper did not give enough evidence for its claim that the MMR vaccine could cause autism. It was later retracted by the journal that published it, and Wakefield had his medical license revoked.

In spite of the fraudulent origins of the idea that vaccines cause autism, and in spite of decades of replicable research proving that this is not true, some people, like Kennedy, continue to perpetuate the myth. These lies do very real harm to the autistic community. Kennedy has described autistic people in insulting ways meant to inspire fear, saying that “their brain is gone” and that the purported effects of vaccination are “a Holocaust.” By working to prevent childhood vaccination, he effectively communicates the message that living as an autistic person is a worse fate than dying of measles or pertussis.

The anti-vaccine movement has led to a wave of fake “autism cures,” many of which have very real health risks. Kennedy recently promoted two of these fake cures when he accused the FDA of suppressing “hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds.” Hyperbaric therapy, a treatment for decompression sickness in divers, has been promoted as a fake autism cure in spite of a complete lack of evidence and associated health risks. Chelation, a treatment for heavy metal poisoning, is another fake cure, and its off-label use for autism has been associated with at least one death.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allies claim that autistic people did not exist in his youth and that “I have never in my life seen a man my age with full-blown autism.” The idea that autistic people of Kennedy’s age (70) do not exist is not true. Autistic people have always been here, but before widespread autism diagnosis, we either went undiagnosed, or received different diagnoses than would be used today — for example, the outdated diagnosis of “childhood schizophrenia” for autism, or diagnosing people who today would only have an autism diagnosis with intellectual disability. Autistic people in Kennedy’s generation were all too often institutionalized or incarcerated. Even if Kennedy is telling the truth about not seeing us, that does not mean we were not there.

Of course, Kennedy’s lies about vaccines do not just hurt autistic people. Kennedy and his nonprofit played an active role in a recent measles outbreak in American Samoa, spreading vaccine misinformation until the vaccination rate dropped low enough that 5,700 people were infected with measles, and 83 people died. Kennedy has also made false claims about COVID-19 vaccine trials and about the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, blaming unrelated deaths on COVID vaccinations. Anti-vaccine misinformation like that promoted by Kennedy’s group has led to a reduced rate of childhood vaccinations in the United States since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

RFK to HHS

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 Trump's nominee to head HHS.

 Eric Michael Garcia at MSNBC:

President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement Wednesday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is his pick for secretary of Health and Human Services symbolizes a major regression when it comes to the humane treatment of autistic people. By picking Kennedy, he is wrongly elevating someone who sees autism, and therefore autistic people, as problems to be solved. He doesn’t see us as having a disability that deserves to be accepted.

The Kennedy pick also symbolizes a moral loss. Not just because of his opposition to vaccines, but also because of his opinions of autistic people. Of course, he believes that autistic people are largely the result of vaccines, making us evidence that Big Pharma is a danger.

If Kennedy becomes HHS secretary, he would likely cause incalculable harm.

Riley Beggin at USA Today:

Most Republican senators appear ready to support Kennedy Jr. to the influential Cabinet position inside the incoming Trump administration even as they are being hounded about how they'll vote for even more controversial nominees, such as former Rep. Matt Gaetz to be Trump's attorney general and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as secretary of Defense.

"RFK Jr. has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure," said Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who has been openly critical of Trump and who serves on the Senate Finance Committee that will vet Kennedy. “I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda."

Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who will chair the Finance committee next year, said in a statement that Kennedy “prioritized addressing chronic diseases through consumer choice and healthy lifestyle,” adding: “I look forward to considering his nomination.”

Happy Ending to the Slapping Incident

 In The Politics of Autism, I write about the everyday struggles facing autistic people and their families, including violence against autistic children.

A previous post discussed Alfredo Morales, a homeless autistic child who touched the hood ornament of a Mercedes.  The driver slapped him.

Ashley Mackey at KABC-TV:

Earlier this summer, a shocking video of a man slapping a young boy with autism in Arleta sparked outrage. Since then, the community has rallied behind the child and his family, showing them love and support.

Then on Monday, the family received a big surprise after they came across some issues with their truck.

The team at Airport Marina Ford surprised Alfredo Morales and his family with a brand new 2023 Ford Explorer.

"If there's a child involved in a situation like that, and the condition of living in the other vehicle, and trying to survive out of that, and then that vehicle being as bad as it was, it was just the right thing to do," said Dan Theroux, the general manager at Airport Marina Ford.

The video of the incident quickly went viral in June. It shows 10-year-old Alfredo sitting on a bus bench with his older sister when the upset man, identified as Scott Sakajian, slaps him. The boy reportedly damaged the Mercedes emblem on the front of Sakajian's car.
The video player is currently playing an ad.

A man became upset by what a boy with autism allegedly did to his vehicle, but his response, caught on video, is drawing heavy criticism.

Sakajian has since been charged with willful cruelty to a child and battery on a person.

The team at Airport Marina Ford said when the family brought in their 2010 Ford F-150, the initial plan was to try to repair it, but it was in bad shape.

They said it needed a new transmission, engine, and the interior would have had to be completely taken out.

"Dan got the Ford to come into the dealership. We saw it on the flatbed and we were like, 'Uh oh, this needs more than just a repair,'" said NOARUS Auto Group President Jamie Bishton.

The vehicle also comes with a Gold Certified warranty, which means if the truck ever gives the family any troubles, they can take it to any Ford dealer to get it fixed.

Since the incident, a GoFundMe set up to help the family has raised nearly $100,000.

In addition to a brand new SUV, Alfredo now attends a new school that specializes in working with children with autism.

"Amazing. I don't have words to say," said the boy's father, Miguel Morales. "It's crazy. I don't have to say nothing. I don't have words, just say thanks. You know, thank God."

Blue Envelopes in New Jersey

 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.

 Mat Fagan and Gene Myers at NorthJersey.com:

[M]ore and more police departments and other law enforcement agencies throughout the state are adopting New Jersey's Blue Envelope Program. The program's goal is to inform officers as fast as possible that the driver they have stopped has a developmental disorder, which may explain their unusual behavior.

Those drivers who participate in the program will get a blue envelope they can place on their vehicle's sun visor or hand over to law enforcement officers during a stop. The envelope holds their essential documents, including license, registration and a contact card. Officers are trained to recognize the blue envelope and its meaning.

Englewood’s Christopher Gagliardi, 43, who has autism, said the bright red and blue lights atop police cars are scary. He's hoping the program helps to ensure that there's "no brutality or any kind of abuse against people with special needs like myself and especially on the autism spectrum disorder that are affected by the terror and fear of police officers."

Once the driver shows or hands over the blue envelope, it alerts the officers to the situation, and they then are able to put training and guidance on best practices into effect. The training will have covered how best to interact and communicate with drivers with autism, said Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes.

...

A new study found that a third of teens who have autism without intellectual disability earn a driver's license. Nearly 90% of them do so within two years of getting their learner’s permit.

California and the Department of Education

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

Trump wants to abolish the Department of Education.

Emma Gallegos at EdSource:

California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond vowed on Friday to fight President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, which he said represented a “clear threat to what our students need to have a good education and a great life.”

“We cannot be caught flatfooted,” Thurmond said, during a news conference.

Thurmond made his pronouncement in Sacramento on Friday while flanked by legislators and education and labor leaders holding up signs saying “Education Is For Everyone” and “Protect All Students.”

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump has vowed to abolish the department, a long-standing and so far unfulfilled pledge made by Republican leaders dating back to former President Ronald Reagan.

Thurmond said there are concerns that abolishing the department would put at risk some $8 billion that California receives in federal funds for programs serving students with disabilities and those attending low-income schools, both public and private.
“We will not allow that to happen,” he said. “The law will not allow that to happen.”

He observed, for example, that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, known as IDEA, guarantees students in special education programs a “free and appropriate education,” and to receive a range of special education services in an individualized education program drawn up for every special education student.

If Congress is reluctant to go that far, Project 2025 has a backup plan: turning IDEA into a no-string block grant.  IDEA is not a civil rights act.  Its requirements are conditions of aid, aka "strings."  If you cut the strings, you gut the protections that students and their families have relied on for decades.

How RFK Jr Could Do Harm

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 endorsed Trump.   RFK could get a major job in the administration.  Even if RFK Jr. does not get a cabinet post, he can still do a lot of damage from a staff job in the White House. Dan Diamond et al. at WP:

But health officials and public health experts say giving Kennedy any role in federal vaccine policy could sow doubt and confusion about vaccines. They contend that could lead states to weaken vaccine requirements to enroll in school, resulting in lower vaccination rates among children.

“It gives executive leaders within a state, especially in red states, and lawmakers the license to go ahead and completely dismantle and annihilate those public health guardrails that we’ve had for decades,” said Rekha Lakshmanan, chief strategy officer for the Immunization Partnership, a Texas-based group of doctors and vaccine advocates. “We will see more schools suffering vaccine preventable outbreaks, we’re going to see more children sick, we could potentially see more children being hospitalized, and, God forbid, children dying from things that are preventable.”

Already, the share of kindergartners exempted from vaccine requirements rose to a high of 3.3 percent last school year, compared with 2.5 percent five years prior, a trend experts say is driven in part by vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine sentiment. All states allow exemptions for children with medical conditions that prevent them from receiving certain vaccines. And most also permit exemptions for religious or other nonmedical reasons.

Religious exemptions for vaccines have skyrocketed by nearly 22 percent in Mecklenburg County in North Carolina over the last five school years, said Raynard Washington, director of the public health department. Vaccine-preventable diseases have followed suit: Cases of pertussis, known as whooping cough, jumped from four last year to 64 so far this year. Chickenpox cases have tripled to at least 15.

The numbers could rise even more if local, state and federal public health officials start sending conflicting messages about vaccines, Washington said. “We certainly don’t want to do something to exacerbate the issue, fueling more disinformation about what I think is settled science — that these vaccines are effective,” he said.

Target: Medicaid

The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of insurance and Medicaid services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Stephanie Armour at KFF:

While Trump has vowed to protect Medicare and said he supports funding home care benefits, he’s been less specific about his intentions for Medicaid, which provides coverage to lower-income and disabled people. Some health analysts expect the program will be especially vulnerable to spending cuts, which could help finance the extension of tax breaks that expire at the end of next year.

Possible changes include the imposition of work requirements on beneficiaries in some states. The administration and Republicans in Congress could also try to revamp the way Medicaid is funded. Now, the federal government pays states a variable percentage of program costs. Conservatives have long sought to cap the federal allotments to states, which critics say would lead to draconian cuts.

“Medicaid will be a big target in a Trump administration,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

Ted Kennedy Jr. recently wrote of the first Trump administration:

The administration proposed shifting more Medicaid costs to the states, which would have reduced funding for home and community-based services. Nearly 15 million people with disabilities, who rely on Medicaid for personal caregivers, would have faced a financially forced transfer to institutional care.

 

Trump 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 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 endorsed Trump.   RFK could get a major job in the administration.

Behavioral scientist Simon Williams at Time:

Vaccines are some of the most successful public-health interventions in history, saving at least 154 million lives in the past 50 years. If Trump’s record is any indication, he himself may not really be the problem when it comes to vaccines. In the years of his first administration, vaccine coverage was as high as—or in some cases the highest—it had ever been (although this was more a continuation of the upward trajectory rather than a result of any particular Trump policies). Childhood vaccination rates have since slipped in the U.S. And with a second Trump term and the worrying prospect of people like Kennedy and Lapado steering or at least influencing policy, it is hard to imagine that vaccine rates won’t further decline. Certainly, vaccine hesitancy will increase—an intensification of the trend we have been seeing, in the U.S. and globally, since the start of the pandemic.

There may not be outright vaccine bans. “"I'm not going to take away anybody's vaccines,” Kennedy recently said. The problem is the doubt that Kennedy sows. Misinformation lingers. It’s been more than 25 years since Andrew Wakefield published his fraudulent paper falsely linking the MMR vaccine to autism. However, his shadow still looms large, and the U.S. has already been experiencing recent measles outbreaks, with misinformation-driven vaccine hesitancy a key factor. Globally, unfounded autism fears are still cited as a reason why some parents refuse vaccines for their children. Kennedy has made false claims that vaccines cause autism, and his misinformation super-spreading has even been linked to a deadly measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019 (for which Kennedy has denied responsibility).

Trump and Education

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

Trump wants to abolish the Department of Education.  Evie Blad at Education Week:

Ending the agency would require approval from Congress and a great deal of political capital that Trump may want to target elsewhere, especially in the early days of his administration in which he will be under pressure to deliver promises around tax cuts and immigration. But it is possible.

...

The department also administers the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA‚—a $14.2 billion program that helps schools pay for special education services for students with disabilities—and a portfolio of grants related to school safety, teacher training, and workforce preparation.

...

The Education Department ensures compliance with federal laws that protect civil rights and disability rights in public schools. That includes investigating complaints that schools aren’t doing things like meeting the needs of students with disabilities, responding adequately to sexual harassment or bullying, or ensuring fair treatment for students of color.

...

Project 2025, the conservative policy document spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation and written by a number of former Trump aides and allies, proposes scrapping the department and making major changes to the two major K-12 funding streams it oversees: converting funding for the Individuals wit.h Disabilities Education Act into “no strings attached” block grants to states and ending Title I.

IDEA is not a civil rights act.  Its requirements are conditions of aid, aka "strings."  If you cut the strings, you gut the protections that students and their families have relied on for decades.

Autism, Vaccines and the Future

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 endorsed Trump.   RFK could get a major job in the administration.

Stephanie Armour at KFF:

Trump’s victory will give a far broader platform to skeptics and critics of federal health programs and actions. Worst case, public health authorities worry, the U.S. could see increases in preventable illnesses; a weakening of public confidence in established science; and debunked notions — such as a link between vaccines and autism — adopted as policy. Trump said in an NBC News interview on Nov. 3 that he would “make a decision” about banning some vaccines, saying he would consult with Kennedy and calling him “a very talented guy.”

While Trump has said he will not try again to repeal the Affordable Care Act, his administration will face an immediate decision next year on whether to back an extension of enhanced premium subsidies for Obamacare insurance plans. Without the enhanced subsidies, steep premium increases causing lower enrollment are projected. The current uninsured rate, about 8%, would almost certainly rise.

Policy specifics have not moved far beyond the “concepts of a plan” Trump said he had during his debate with Harris, though Vice President-elect JD Vance later said the administration would seek to inject more competition into ACA marketplaces.

RFK in Power?

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.  If Trump wins, RFK could get a major job in the administration.

Matt Field at The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:

It’s unclear exactly what position Kennedy would fill should Trump return to the White House, but some experts worry about putting Kennedy anywhere near the vaccine policymaking machinery of federal health agencies, two of the most important parts of which being the advisory committees to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) makes recommendations on whether to approve vaccines, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends vaccines for use, determinations that states rely on to set their own school vaccine requirements.

...

Dorit Reiss, who researches vaccine law and policy at the University of California College of Law, San Francisco, worries about Kennedy having the ability to shape how government data is presented. She fears he will use data access to create flawed and biased reports on vaccines, ones that will come with the imprimatur of the federal government. “He believes what he wants to believe, and he doesn’t care about the data,” she said.

Reiss thinks Kennedy would face obstacles if he were put in a position to influence federal vaccine policy. States rely on the CDC advisory committee as the basis for their own vaccine policies because they consider it to produce expert advice. In theory, an empowered Kennedy might be able to influence who is on that committee, but if that leads to a less credible committee, states will simply ignore its recommendations. Fill the committee with people like discredited former UK doctor Andrew Wakefield, who produced a now retracted study that linked vaccines to autism, and it will not have the prestige it currently enjoys, Reiss said.

But the committee does have a few direct levers to pull on vaccines, Reiss said. The CDC advisory committee also makes recommendations, that if approved by the CDC director, determine which vaccines insurers participating in the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace must cover. The committee also makes recommendations about which vaccines to provide under a CDC program to provide recommended vaccines to low-income children.

Trump Won't Rule Out Banning 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 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.  If Trump wins, RFK could get a major job in the administration.

Kennedy has said that no vaccine is safe and effective.  There is tape.

Dasha Burns and Alexandra Marquez at NBC:

Former President Donald Trump said Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would have a “big role in the administration” if he wins Tuesday, telling NBC News in a phone interview that he is open to some of his more controversial ideas.

Kennedy, who ran for president as an independent this year before he dropped his bid and endorsed Trump, has long spread conspiracies and falsehoods about vaccines and other public health matters. He has, for example, frequently claimed that vaccines are linked to autism, even though studies have debunked that theory for decades.

Asked Sunday whether banning certain vaccines would be an option during a second term, Trump didn’t rule it out.

“Well, I’m going to talk to [Kennedy] and talk to other people, and I’ll make a decision, but he’s a very talented guy and has strong views,” Trump said.

“Well, I’m going to talk to [Kennedy] and talk to other people, and I’ll make a decision, but he’s a very talented guy and has strong views,” Trump said.

Ted Kennedy Jr. on Trump and Disabilities

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in campaign politics.   In the 2016 campaign, a number of posts discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues more generally.   As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities.   

RFK Jr. supports Trump and would have power in a Trump administration.  The rest of the family opposes Trump.

Ted Kennedy Jr. is an amputee and disability rights lawyer.  He write at The Hartford Courant:

President Trump has repeatedly ridiculed and demeaned people with disabilities and consistently shown a lack of respect and understanding of our community. He has publicly mocked a reporter with limb differences, called Sen. John McCain and other decorated disabled veterans “losers,” and made fun of President Biden’s stutter. His former Chief of Staff, John Kelly, reported his reluctance to be photographed with disabled American veterans “because it doesn’t look good for me.” Trump even suggested to his own nephew, Fred, who has a child with severe disabilities, that people like Fred’s son “should just die.” Court records show that Trump, as a landlord, has been sued at least eight times for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, dragging out cases for years, trying to avoid responsibility, and shifting blame to others. Trump has no understanding of what life is truly like for disabled people, and his hurtful rhetoric and appalling behavior reveal a deeply troubling disregard for the dignity and worth of disabled Americans.

... 

Until Trump took office in 2017, the expansion of civil rights of people with disabilities benefited from strong bipartisan congressional support. In fact, the ADA was championed by prominent Republicans, including then-Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburg, and President George H.W. Bush. This spirit of bipartisan cooperation allowed disability rights to continue to expand.

Kennedy lists ways in which Trump turned back the clock.

Medicaid Financing and Home-Based Care: The administration proposed shifting more Medicaid costs to the states, which would have reduced funding for home and community-based services. Nearly 15 million people with disabilities, who rely on Medicaid for personal caregivers, would have faced a financially forced transfer to institutional care.

Weakening the Department of Justice’s Disability Rights Section: Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded 27 critical ADA guidance documents, relied upon for years by both parties, to interpret and enforce the ADA. Under Trump, civil rights enforcement for people with disabilities ground to a halt, leaving countless cases of discrimination unaddressed.

...

Cuts to Special Education and Independent Living Services: Trump’s administration slashed Medicaid funding to schools, depriving children with disabilities of essential medical care and equipment enabling them to pursue their education. Trump also cut funding to Independent Living Centers, vocational rehabilitation programs, assistive technology and even to Special Olympics, only avoided due to public outrage.

Trump, RFK, and Vaccines: Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

 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.  If Trump wins, RFK could get a major job in the administration.

Alexandra Marquez and Garrett Haake at NBC:

In the closing days of the presidential campaign, former President Donald Trump and some of his top allies have increasingly embraced and spread anti-vaccine rhetoric typically linked to former independent presidential candidate and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"He’s a great guy. I’ve known him a long time. And all he wants to do — it’s very simple — he wants to make people healthy," Trump told NBC News on Friday.

Misinformation about vaccines has not been a focal point of Trump's 2024 campaign, but recently, Kennedy's influence — and the large role he could play in a Trump administration — have come to the forefront.

During an event with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Kennedy in Arizona Thursday night, Trump said that Kennedy wants to "look" at pesticides and vaccines in a potential Trump administration — and he was more than happy to give him carte blanche.

"He can do anything he wants," Trump said.

Dr. Kavita Patel, physician and health policy researcher, writes at NBC:

As a physician on the front lines of public health, I find myself in a state of constant disbelief and growing alarm, watching the level of disinformation and dangerous false rhetoric around public health emanating from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. A recent CNN interview with Howard Lutnick, co-chair of the Trump-Vance transition team, has sent shockwaves through the medical community. Lutnick’s casual endorsement of long-debunked vaccine conspiracy theories wasn’t just a momentary lapse in judgment — it was akin to tossing a lit match into a powder keg of public health concerns.

Ronald Bailey at Reason:

During a Fox News interview in 2023, Kennedy reiterated, "I do believe that autism comes from vaccines." Despite the claims by Kennedy, now being echoed by Lutnick, years of research have turned up no evidence that childhood vaccinations cause autism spectrum disorders. Of course, nearly any medical treatment will have some adverse side effects in some people. However, a 2021 comprehensive analysis of vaccine safety by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found "no new evidence of increased risk for key adverse events following administration of vaccines that are routinely recommended for adults, children, and pregnant women."