Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has a plan to undermine the autism registry RFK Jr. keeps talking about.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has a plan to protect autism-related data from RFK Jr.’s absurd plans to create a disease registry tracking autistic people.

Pritzker plans to sign an executive order Wednesday that will prevent state agencies from obtaining or disclosing data that personally identifies people with autism, unless it’s required for medical care or legal matters, according to a copy of the order obtained by the Chicago-Sun Times.

  • @barneypiccolo@lemm.eeEnglish
    12•2 days ago

    RFK Jr. has long dehumanized people with autism and spread unbacked claims about the disorder. “These are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use the toilet unassisted,” Kennedy said at a press conference in April.

    Has this guy ever actually met someone with autism? I’ve known autistic kids who weren’t verbal or even seemingly aware of their surroundings, but I have also known autistic kids that were extremely high functioning, and you would never know they were autistic unless they told you.

    And then of course there are those in the middle, at every point on the SPECTRUM. We’ve all met that Aspy kid who is obsessed with a subject, and could talk about it endlessly. I once had a long, very enjoyable discussion with a Cub Scout in my son’s pack about Star Wars, before his mother rushed up and said “Are you talking about Star Wars again? What did I tell you about bothering people? He doesn’t want to hear about that.” Then she apologized to me. That’s when I said, “It’s okay, I love Star Wars. I started the conversation when I saw his Star Wars T-Shirt. I could talk about Star Wars all day.”

    The other day, I had a long discussion with an awkward young guy about my favorite obsession, Music, and it was his as well. Eventually we parted, and I wondered if he was autistic, and Music was his obsession. Then I thought about how obsessed I am about music, and wondered if I don’t have a touch of autism myself.

    Putting all autistics into the same bucket does them and society a disservice. Many are perfectly capable of holding jobs and living fulfilling lives. If the government declares all neurodivergents to be a drain on society, then it opens them up to vicious discrimination in every corner of society. That would be a terrible shame, because I often find those obsessive awkward people to be very interesting and endearing. You want to know about a subject? Find an autistic person who loves it, and they’ll share everything they know. I love that.