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354

RFK Jr. set to launch disease registry tracking autistic people (newrepublic.com)

submitted 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

94 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Summary

RFK Jr. is using private medical records to create a registry of people with autism in the United States.

The National Institutes of Health is helping to collect private medical records from government and commercial databases, including “prescription records from pharmacies, lab testing, and genomics records from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service, private insurance claims, and data from smartwatches and fitness trackers.”

Kennedy, a longtime critic of vaccination, has made the study of autism one of HHS’s primary goals. He has called autism “preventable” and claimed “he can find a cure for the condition by September.”

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 16 minutes ago

This is just them preparing the launchpad for further mass surveillance programs. First, they'll poke around with innocent sounding programs, testing the waters to see how much data they can sniff out of different private databases without anyone noticing. They'll claim it's for the good of autistic people. They'll enact legislation to further cement their practices of data gathering. If their proof of concept turns out to be delivering results, they'll keep going.

Slowly they'll keep tracking all kinds of people they deem as "ill". They'll start with vilified minorities that can't fight back. Most likely trans people. Then the rest of the queer community. Of course, they'll claim there's no ill intent in gathering this data, after all, it's not like they're going to commit any vile acts.

And slowly but surely, once the public debate around these minorities turns even more sour, you'll have them enacting all kinds of laws, and these databases will prove to be quite handy tools in aiding their goals.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

There, the anti-science conspiracy theorist sure to fill NIH with self-proclaimed physical therapists, snake oil profiteers, and homeopathy fans.

If it's not killing, it's him wanting to deny the disabled any financial help and government assistance, insisting the disabled are liabilities.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

While true, I'd take homeopathy over ABA. "yOu sHoUld go to tHerApy to leaRn to cOmmuNicate to nOrMal peOple" - "No thanks, I'll take this little sweetened expensive piece of nothing and thank the Jr, so good we have him in charge of health".

OK, I haven't even been to USA, but some "accepted" things about autism are just as bad as his ideas.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 hours ago

Lol, gj Muskrat, you've been designated the Röhm!

[–] [email protected] 39 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

The first group the Nazis killed were not Jews. They killed the physically and mentally disabled first. Once they saw that the public didn't push back, they knew they could do whatever they wanted. They believed people born with disabilities were not useful and their blood would tarnish the purity of the superior race. RFK's bullshit should terrify all of us.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 hour ago

RFK is not the killing type, he is more of a "grandma giving you kombucha something sweet drink instead of actual medicine" type. He even talks like one.

That's dangerous, but blood purity is something I'd expect his background to actually prevent him from believing to be good. With ecology, eating raw meat and such things. Not the kind of people to think being inbred is good.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago

Also, the term Asperger's was coined in Nazi Germany to help determine which patients with autism (back then considered a subgroup of schizophrenia) were fit for labor camps and which were destined for death camps.

Which is part of the reason we don't use the label Asperger's anymore.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 8 hours ago

Who's laughing at self-diagnosis now??

Anyway, fuck this place (USA)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Seeing shit like this gives me a nervous pause, and then I think back to a scene I remember in early season 1 of The Man In The High Castle (a show about an alt timeline where we lost WW2). This line always stuck with me:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TFM2xZ7dytk&t=104

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago

I only had to see that scene once for it to be burned in my memory.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 hours ago

oh no

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 hours ago

Really, we're still on this Jenny McCarthy nonsense?

[–] [email protected] 58 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Well that's not great. This is the kind of shit why I haven't wanted to get diagnosed. Granted I'm already in it deep for being trans and that resulting million mile paper trail...

Behind the Bastards has a good couple episodes about what happens when people say they can cure autism (spoilers: many children die horribly)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Their RFK episodes are also highly relevant at the moment.

(spoilers: even more dead children)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 39 minutes ago

The RFK Jr episodes also led me to believe that RFK Jr is probably not as neurotypical as he probably wants to think.

Which is not surprising considering the amount of hatred and seething rage that some unrecognized neurodivergent people (primarily low support needs) have for anyone exhibiting neurodivergent traits.

After years of social rejection (especially by family) and being denied support, many neurodivergent people learn to mask their traits at all costs. So when they see others openly express their traits or receive accommodations, it can feel deeply triggering, even infuriating. This resentment often fuels a cycle of shame and suppression that repeats across generations in ND families

Most of the late-diagnosed autistics/ADHDers in my circle have experienced abuse from undiagnosed autistic/ADHD parents. These parents, having been forced to mask their traits due to less obvious support needs, often harshly suppress the same traits in their children to avoid stigma.

Some people who’ve struggled want to ease the path for others; others believe everyone should struggle as they did. The latter are the ones who go on to try to abuse their kids (and sometimes a whole country) out of being neurodivergent.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Absolutely nothing good will come from this.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

The only small silver lining in recent times has been the mass amount of outcry for everything that's happening. It feels like the country is finally waking up. It just sucks that we had to get to full blown fascism to get there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrG1S3SGx-Y

[–] [email protected] 74 points 12 hours ago (4 children)

It's Eugenics, this is them warming you up to forced sterilisation. This is Timesplitters shit, let's just kill the Billionaires. Come on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Eugenics seems opposite from RFK Jr's ideas.

I don't think so. I think he's really that delusional. Let's hope his medical experiments won't be worse than some hallucinogenic mushrooms.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Well technically they're warming people up for full blown death-camps.

It starts with tracking, then sterilization, then "work camps", and then suddenly there are hundreds of thousands stuffed into cargo trains on the way to the furnaces. With tons of them telling themselves they should have done something when they first came for...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

You already have tracking.

[+] [email protected] -9 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (3 children)

He did run on finding the increased cause of autism in the youth. He said it was likely environmental toxins from corporations.

So if hes right and hes not looking to murder people then we get statistics on where its occuring, and he would track it down like we did lead and things like that.

Which there doesnt seem to be a counter-point to what hes doing, heres MSNBC who obviously hates Trump, and as she says theres not been clear answers yet. Which maybe with the data he is gathering there will be some insights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0OxB7DzBGQ

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Yes, well, there are good statistics and studies on autism and it's mostly genetic. A bug of some of our far ancestors being related enough to have kids, but not enough to avoid weird bugs. Like - some of the neanderthals were not eaten. And parts of their genes were kinda compatible to those of bog standard homo sapiens sapiens, but not entirely. Which mostly doesn't show in humans, and when it does, it's autism. Or green eyes. Or something like that. Point being - really nothing to do with environment.

BTW, RFK Jr really with his manner of speech seems like a high-functioning autistic person, give or take. I wonder if he knows that you don't have to hide in a room all day and smell and have problems talking at all to be that. I also wonder if he knows that his survival\camping interests too match that a lot.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago

RFK must be very upset with Trump letting coal-fired power plants pump arsenic and mercury into the atmosphere unrestricted then

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Ah yes, this is clearly a person who is gathering information purely for science and the public good

[–] [email protected] -4 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

I dont like the guy, but clearly it is an issue according to this MSN interview. So if he can figure it out I'd like that he did, so that the corporation causing it is held to account. Or what, do we just wait until a democrat is the one to do the same thing?

RFK is also talking about the obesity epidemic, specifically tying it to our food quality that many large donors really dont want to hear. I think some of these things seem sane, and I'm glad the republicans are starting to appreciate these ideologies.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Except, you know, autism can't be cured and, you know, the uptick in cases is not because a raise in the numbers but a better diagnosis.

If they spent that money and time in improving autistic people life quality instead of "curing" them, the world would be a much better place.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 hour ago (3 children)

Why are you so sure autism can't be cured? Is "autism" even a narrow enough diagnosis to cure?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 minutes ago

Because we are not ill. We have a differently wired brain. You can't just rewire my synaptic connections in a neurotypical way. The only way to "cure" autism is by removing autistic people from the world and... I'm not gonna agree with such solution.

I really hope you are asking this out of innocent ignorance, because the alternative would make you part of the problem and... there are words for you in that case, words that could probably get me banned.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 45 minutes ago

Because whatever causes it, it's a difference in synaptic connectivity that can't be medicated or trained away. The only effective way to remove autism from society is removing autists from society and that's exactly what rfk jr wants to do.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Are you trying to be a unhelpful walrus or is this just happening organically, can you actually add something of function or substance to the conversation of just being a little detracting asshole?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 hours ago

I'm way ahead of them. I self sterilized. I don't want any hand in bringing more people into this shit show.

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