Being Racist and Anti-Autistic Kills

Ableism is evil. Disabled people do not need to be “cured”, nor do we want to be “cured”. Disabled people have always been a target of the American government, but one group in particular gets special attention (in a horrible way)—autistic people. In the past, we were thrown into asylums and diagnosed with “idiocy” and “retardation”. Much of the eugenics movement has been devoted to eradicating our existence. It’s hit such a point that the current Health and Human Services Secretary, known hack RFK Jr., who quite notably, is a lawyer and NOT a scientist or doctor, has made it clear that eradicating autism is going to be a focus. He believes that vaccines cause autism. There is literally zero evidence supporting this. No, really. There’s actually zero evidence. Even the one paper anti-vaxxers cite (which was retracted) admits there’s no evidence. The video below, while quite long, is very much worth watching. It breaks down how these beliefs got started and why there’s zero evidence that vaccines cause autism. Seriously, it’s a must-watch.

Anyway, these dangerous beliefs have led to some terrifying things in this country. First, we’ll start with Peter Marks, a former head of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. He was on CBS’s Face the Nation recently and said this in regard to autism:

Yes, “hope” of curing autism. “Curing autism” is an evil desire. It’s eugenics, plain and simple. There’s nothing wrong with disabilities. There’s nothing wrong with being autistic. Wanting to “cure autism” shows that only non-autistic people matter. We autistic people have repeatedly, for a very long time now, stated we don’t want cured. What we want is understanding and support. But, doing so would require non-autistic people to have to change. They would have to learn about our experiences and have to change to be more inclusive to us. That’s too much to ask for. So, instead, we autistic folk have spent our lives having to mask and burn ourselves out to be “acceptable” to non-autistic folk. At no point have non-autistic folk even tried to be inclusive to us. The burden has always been on us to just simply not be autistic, no matter how damaging it is to us. Now, our government wants to “cure autism” like it’s a disease when it’s a disability we’re born with, one that’s likely genetic. This doesn’t benefit us. This benefits the privileged, the non-autistic folk, the ones who feel entitled to not having to be inclusive and change their views or behavior at all. The ones who believe it's up to autistic people to simply not be autistic. The only way to eradicate autism is to eradicate people, to eradicate entire bloodlines. Our government wants to eradicate people so that the majority doesn’t have to be uncomfortable by being around someone different. All because our existences as autistic people are deemed to be “lesser” based on nothing other than non-autistic folk feeling icky around us.

So, what happens when the country you live in decides that dying from preventable diseases is better than being autistic and that autistic folk are a burden that needs to be cured? Oh, and for good measure, is really, really, racist? You get Hispanic kids getting killed solely for the crimes of being Hispanic and autistic. That’s exactly what happened to Victor Perez, a 17-year-old Hispanic teenager who was autistic and also had cerebral palsy. He was shot nine times by cops. He got shot because he was not white and was autistic. Therefore, his life was deemed to not be worth it, and the cops shot him. If they weren’t racist and they cared at all about neurodivergent people, there would’ve been an attempt to talk to him and assess the situation. But no, instead, they see someone who’s not white and isn’t processing what’s going on, and so they open fire. The horrifying thing is that this may be the least horrifying thing that will happen to autistic folk in America for a while. It’s only going to get worse. This is where being racist and anti-autistic leads: the death of innocents. Perez should be alive today. It’s evil and shows the true genocidal face of America that he’s not. Until this country moves past its racism and ableism, things will get worse. Racism and ableism lead to fascism. Fascism does not lead to bigotry. It only exposes and throws in your face what everyone believed to begin with.

Before I go, though, please remember that ableism and white supremacy are intertwined. You can't get rid of one without the other. These two bigotries must be defeated...together. Until all are free, none are free.

One last thing: stop listening to Autism Speaks. Start listening to Autistic Self Advocacy Network instead. Please.