Colin Killick: This administration has not asked autistic people what we think of its policies that target our community, nor listened when we have spoken up publicly. ... Most of all, we have told the administration that we are not a plague, nor "destroyed" people who can be given up on, and we have been consistently ignored.
During Autism Acceptance Month in April, [Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] claimed that autism "destroys" children and their families, and that autistic people are incapable of a laundry list of activities. Such claims are absurd, including about people with high support needs. There are nonspeaking autistic people who write poetry, autistic people with intellectual disabilities who play baseball through organizations like the Special Olympics, and autistic people with high support needs who have successful careers and are experts in their fields.
Colin Killick is the executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a national public policy and civil rights advocacy nonprofit run by and for autistic people. He is an autistic advocate and writer based in Washington, DC, and holds a 2018 masters in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
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