Gwen Walz, the wife of Minnesota Gov. and former Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz (D), recently slammed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his widely panned remarks about autism during a press conference earlier this week.
On Wednesday, Kennedy — a notorious vaccine skeptic who has spread widely disproven claims that vaccines are linked to autism — was discussing data and statistics on the rates of autism diagnoses in the U.S. when he at one point called autism an “individual tragedy.” He also said “autism destroys families” and “destroys” children.
“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 a toilet unassisted,” he said.
Walz responded to a clip that was posted on X, formerly Twitter, that showed Kennedy speaking about the capabilities and contributions of people with autism — and she did not hold back.
“This is deeply upsetting, especially coming from our nation’s highest-ranking health official,” she wrote. “Individuals with autism are family, neighbors, students, and coworkers and they contribute more to this nation than this man ever will.”
The Walzes told People magazine last year that they discovered their son, Gus, had a learning disorder, an anxiety disorder and ADHD when he was a teenager.
Since autism presents in many different ways, it’s often described as a spectrum. “There’s a very wide range of personality traits, strengths and challenges you might have when you’re autistic — just as there is for any other person,” the Cleveland Clinic states.
Some people with autism need more support and assistance in their daily lives, as Kennedy referenced, but his framing is dehumanizing, author Kala Allen Omeiza told HuffPost earlier this week.
Omeiza, who founded the nonprofit I’m Heard, which focuses on ending the stigma of mental illness in diverse communities, emphasized that “all autistic lives are valuable not just because of what we can do for society, but because we are human.”
Kennedy has come under fire for several claims he made about autism during his Wednesday conference. Among them was his charge that an increase in autism diagnoses was not significantly due to better screening and earlier detection — despite findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and medical experts. He also called autism a “preventable disease,” even though that has not been supported by scientific consensus.
The health secretary has since sought to clarify his remarks about the capabilities of people with autism amid wide backlash, saying that he was only referring to 25% of the population with autism, like those who are “nonverbal.”
But as Omeiza previously told HuffPost: “The idea that we only deserve support if we can prove our potential is one of the most dangerous and insidious forms of ableism.”
Holly Humphreys, a licensed professional counselor and registered art therapist with Thriveworks, told HuffPost in an email that the “most concerning aspect” of Kennedy’s remarks is the “suggestion that people with autism aren’t able to engage or contribute to society.”
Humphreys, who has experience working with kids and adults with autism and providing support for their family members, said that rhetoric like Kennedy’s can help “sustain harmful stereotypes about autism.”
“Some people with autism require very little support in their daily lives and live quite independently. Whereas others may need significantly more support in their daily functioning,” she wrote. “Likewise, some people with autism have advanced cognitive and conversational skills while others may be nonverbal. Thus, it is hurtful to make a blanket statement that people with autism will never be able to function in society or will be a burden to families and society as that is very untrue.”
She added: “These statements dismiss that people with autism can live a happy and fulfilling life.”
Harmful stigmas associated with autism could lead to fewer people seeking diagnoses.
Humphreys said the impact of Kennedy’s remarks on people with autism and their family members could be “far reaching.”
“These stereotypical statements typically divert the focus of help by mostly dismissing that anything can be done to assist people with autism,” she said. “There is a risk of perpetuating harmful stigmas which could possibly prevent families from seeking diagnoses for their children. It could also reduce the resources available to people with autism.”
Humphreys said that Walz’s decision to speak out was important, since “the more information that can be shared on a public platform, the less risk that generalized remarks will be believed to be true.”
She said that anyone making the choice to publicly share their personal experiences with having autism or having a family member with autism can help families when someone receives a diagnosis, “instead of making them feel as if this is a death sentence with no hope,” she said.