Byline: Dr. Louis Esposito Ed. D

What does it say about a society when someone with power and a microphone can stand before the nation and describe a population of people as an epidemic? Recently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that autistic people will “never pay taxes,” “never write a poem,” and “never go on a date.” These claims were not made in the spirit of care or concern. They were made to evoke fear, to paint autism as a mistake, and to signal to the public that autistic lives are somehow incompatible with value, agency, or contribution. That framing is not just inaccurate. It is a step backward into a past many of us have fought hard to move beyond.