The MAHA team came out swinging today against vaccines, Tylenol and more. Their big autism announcement was riddled with eugenicist language designed to blame and punish people for their disabilities.
This sounds just like the right wing claim that “you can pray the gay” out of people. Also, there probably are many people that will just stop buying Tylenol specifically because they don’t know the difference between a brand and the generic drug.
It’s exactly like that. They want to blame the parents (and the children) for their autism and effectively tell them that they can try harder their way out of it. It’s deeply disturbing and incredibly dangerous.
My wife and I were talking about how paracetamol probably doesn’t cause autism, but you can’t get it in the US. 😀 (Paracetamol is what they call acetaminophen in the UK and many commonwealth countries.)
Thank you Debra. It’s so hard because writing is what helps me cope with being bed bound. Definitely worried doing this article will have consequences to my baseline, but really happy that my body cooperated long enough to do it because it’s so important!
This is from another Spoonie....I am here in solidarity. Your article was right on!! Thank you, especially for using some of your precious spoons to say all this. I have been alarmed as much as you these days...it is terrifying, especially if your disability is something not widely recognized...I have ME/CFS.
I came to Substack to find a means of earning something to replace what will be lost due to the insufferably greed...and I found that I became somewhat "whole", as people only saw my work and talent and not my physical problems. It was like being whole again...for just a bit of time.
As this propaganda becomes normalized I felt the slippery slope once more, only worse this time as he has slowly dismantled the progress it took the disabled community to get: ADA, benefits and programs to assist us in reclaiming our value....mostly to the others who would not be able to see our talents,our worth as whole humans who are a bit differently making our way through our lives. We are valuable! Not just because we have abilities, but because we are humans! We are people and not just income for others to gain from. I had begun to feel my self confidence coming back with this platform to work from. It was exhilarating!
It is more than heart breaking to say the least, as we watch all of this gain going away to be replaced by horrible insulting language and policy. I worry that as we lose our benefits, we will find our lives so restricted that many will die without the support we deserve in this fight. it isn't, IMO, the fight which we need right now, it is the support to fight which we need.
Bless you for this essay and I do hope you can find your baseline again...we are united in our fight and perhaps we can get the numbers of others to fight along with us. I am drawing and resisting in all the ways I can right now, but if I go out on the streets I won't be well enough to survive...and that is why we need the support to fight..others to be beside us. keep your chin up and keep using your writing...it is a valuable tool, indeed!!
Thank you so much Catherine! I’m glad you’ve found a home here on Substack and that you recognize we don’t have to earn in order to have value.
I also felt my confidence start to return the more I wrote and participated in online discussion… I think that’s why this flare has been so devastating
Losing the ability to do that left me feeling really down so I’m glad I found the spoons for this piece
Now I just have to let myself recover from publishing!
You are a bad ass for whipping this out today! Very well written and said, TY! Please rest as much as you need. I hope you can fully recover from this flare in time. I hope you get paid whether you publish or not? And if not, then maybe consider a Patreon page, where we can support you whether you can write that day/week/month or not. (No system is perfect.) Anyway, hugs, and thanks again. We will NOT permit Aktion T4 2.0 on our watch, no!
I like that you have been speaking out about issues that need to be addressed.
After 9 YEARS OF GRIEF, CONGRESS STILL WON'T DO THE RIGHT THING.
LEAVING RFKjr there to spout dangerous opinions is killing people.
SCOTUS 6 HAS BEEN LEFT IN PLACE TO KNOCK DOWN every try at justice. Overturning Roe guaranteed that girls/women would suffer and DIE. It has been OVER 3 YEARS, and HeatherCoxRichardson posted a YEAR AGO JULY THAT 66,615 pregnant rape victims, have had no access to GYN doctors (JAMA JOURNAL OF AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION).
That likely means 66,615 GIRLS (some as young as 13 years old)/ WOMEN have birthed (WITH NO SUPPORT) 66, 615 rapist's babies.
😡😠😡😠😡
No one gives a damn enough to RESTORE ROE.
So...there they sit:
SCOTUS JUDGES,
AND CONGRESS not Doing Anything, WHILE THOUSANDS SUFFER.
There they sit while RFKjr CONTINUES to spew bad advice.😠😡😠😡😠😡😠
Hope you are feeling better soon. We need your voice .
Welcome back. I’ve missed seeing your work. As someone with an invisible illness — I feel very seen.
“If people would decide that we are not expendable, if they would make a commitment to fighting for us, we would be much safer. “
And yes! Boycotts work as long as they are profitable— but also— this is Trump’s MO— cause a fire and then put it out and then reveal how it was used as a distraction.
I find myself asking, “What did we all miss while the censorship took place and what can it prepare us for next?
I have no problem with the term “neurodivergent”, but I dislike “neurotypical”. It seems to me to refer to people who can pretend to be “normal” in this insane society of ours. The people who don’t have to pretend, to whom it feels natural—those are the scary ones.
RFK said that people over 50 aren't being diagnosed with autism and that it's only younger people and that it's a new, horrifying epidemic. More lies.
I was diagnosed last year. I am 52.
I was autistic when there were "1 in 10,000" diagnoses 20 years ago. I am still autistic; now I am the 1 in 31 (or 10 or 12, Trump couldn't decide on the number). I didn't have the language as a young person to describe myself and the ability to see myself in others like me. We didn't have a diagnostic criteria to identify me back then. I was still autistic just the same. I wasn't just "weird" or "eccentric."
What do you expect from a guy who admits he had a brain worm, spent years as a heroin addict, swims in sewage-polluted waters, and whose family had his father’s sister lobotomized when she wasn’t up to their standards.
This sounds just like the right wing claim that “you can pray the gay” out of people. Also, there probably are many people that will just stop buying Tylenol specifically because they don’t know the difference between a brand and the generic drug.
It’s exactly like that. They want to blame the parents (and the children) for their autism and effectively tell them that they can try harder their way out of it. It’s deeply disturbing and incredibly dangerous.
My wife and I were talking about how paracetamol probably doesn’t cause autism, but you can’t get it in the US. 😀 (Paracetamol is what they call acetaminophen in the UK and many commonwealth countries.)
Sorry to hear about your flare. It sucks not to be able to write. ❤️
Thank you Debra. It’s so hard because writing is what helps me cope with being bed bound. Definitely worried doing this article will have consequences to my baseline, but really happy that my body cooperated long enough to do it because it’s so important!
You're absolutely right, and we need a huge uprising to stop this nonsense.
We really do! And if the Jimmy Kimmel situation taught us anything it’s that if enough people rise up together, you can bring about change.
This is from another Spoonie....I am here in solidarity. Your article was right on!! Thank you, especially for using some of your precious spoons to say all this. I have been alarmed as much as you these days...it is terrifying, especially if your disability is something not widely recognized...I have ME/CFS.
I came to Substack to find a means of earning something to replace what will be lost due to the insufferably greed...and I found that I became somewhat "whole", as people only saw my work and talent and not my physical problems. It was like being whole again...for just a bit of time.
As this propaganda becomes normalized I felt the slippery slope once more, only worse this time as he has slowly dismantled the progress it took the disabled community to get: ADA, benefits and programs to assist us in reclaiming our value....mostly to the others who would not be able to see our talents,our worth as whole humans who are a bit differently making our way through our lives. We are valuable! Not just because we have abilities, but because we are humans! We are people and not just income for others to gain from. I had begun to feel my self confidence coming back with this platform to work from. It was exhilarating!
It is more than heart breaking to say the least, as we watch all of this gain going away to be replaced by horrible insulting language and policy. I worry that as we lose our benefits, we will find our lives so restricted that many will die without the support we deserve in this fight. it isn't, IMO, the fight which we need right now, it is the support to fight which we need.
Bless you for this essay and I do hope you can find your baseline again...we are united in our fight and perhaps we can get the numbers of others to fight along with us. I am drawing and resisting in all the ways I can right now, but if I go out on the streets I won't be well enough to survive...and that is why we need the support to fight..others to be beside us. keep your chin up and keep using your writing...it is a valuable tool, indeed!!
Thank you so much Catherine! I’m glad you’ve found a home here on Substack and that you recognize we don’t have to earn in order to have value.
I also felt my confidence start to return the more I wrote and participated in online discussion… I think that’s why this flare has been so devastating
Losing the ability to do that left me feeling really down so I’m glad I found the spoons for this piece
Now I just have to let myself recover from publishing!
Trump
Had to wait until Charlie was dead to announce such horrible disregard for people.
I hope you feel better soon and likewise recover your spoons, as always, Bob
Thank you Bob, I hope so too!
You are a bad ass for whipping this out today! Very well written and said, TY! Please rest as much as you need. I hope you can fully recover from this flare in time. I hope you get paid whether you publish or not? And if not, then maybe consider a Patreon page, where we can support you whether you can write that day/week/month or not. (No system is perfect.) Anyway, hugs, and thanks again. We will NOT permit Aktion T4 2.0 on our watch, no!
Sorry to hear you are having difficulties.
I like that you have been speaking out about issues that need to be addressed.
After 9 YEARS OF GRIEF, CONGRESS STILL WON'T DO THE RIGHT THING.
LEAVING RFKjr there to spout dangerous opinions is killing people.
SCOTUS 6 HAS BEEN LEFT IN PLACE TO KNOCK DOWN every try at justice. Overturning Roe guaranteed that girls/women would suffer and DIE. It has been OVER 3 YEARS, and HeatherCoxRichardson posted a YEAR AGO JULY THAT 66,615 pregnant rape victims, have had no access to GYN doctors (JAMA JOURNAL OF AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION).
That likely means 66,615 GIRLS (some as young as 13 years old)/ WOMEN have birthed (WITH NO SUPPORT) 66, 615 rapist's babies.
😡😠😡😠😡
No one gives a damn enough to RESTORE ROE.
So...there they sit:
SCOTUS JUDGES,
AND CONGRESS not Doing Anything, WHILE THOUSANDS SUFFER.
There they sit while RFKjr CONTINUES to spew bad advice.😠😡😠😡😠😡😠
Hope you are feeling better soon. We need your voice .
🦋🌼🗽🇺🇲🇺🇦
Welcome back. I’ve missed seeing your work. As someone with an invisible illness — I feel very seen.
“If people would decide that we are not expendable, if they would make a commitment to fighting for us, we would be much safer. “
And yes! Boycotts work as long as they are profitable— but also— this is Trump’s MO— cause a fire and then put it out and then reveal how it was used as a distraction.
I find myself asking, “What did we all miss while the censorship took place and what can it prepare us for next?
There are more of us-than them.
absolutely. the only reason for them to spew this nonsense, is to make people afraid of disabled people.
I have no problem with the term “neurodivergent”, but I dislike “neurotypical”. It seems to me to refer to people who can pretend to be “normal” in this insane society of ours. The people who don’t have to pretend, to whom it feels natural—those are the scary ones.
Eugenics AND misogyny. Couldn't possibly be less surprised.
Hugging you from a distance (those won't tire either of us out)
I wonder what caused people to be autistic before Tylenol and vaccines were available, then?
RFK said that people over 50 aren't being diagnosed with autism and that it's only younger people and that it's a new, horrifying epidemic. More lies.
I was diagnosed last year. I am 52.
I was autistic when there were "1 in 10,000" diagnoses 20 years ago. I am still autistic; now I am the 1 in 31 (or 10 or 12, Trump couldn't decide on the number). I didn't have the language as a young person to describe myself and the ability to see myself in others like me. We didn't have a diagnostic criteria to identify me back then. I was still autistic just the same. I wasn't just "weird" or "eccentric."
Their math ain't mathing.
What do you expect from a guy who admits he had a brain worm, spent years as a heroin addict, swims in sewage-polluted waters, and whose family had his father’s sister lobotomized when she wasn’t up to their standards.
Thank you for writing this. I hope your flare up calms down.
And people are actually believing this crap. "Shares of Kenvue Inc. [company that makes Tylenol] fell 7.5% in trading Monday".
Incredibly stupid of the administration which is going to make the government a target for lawsuits for years to come.
So sorry for your flare up
Thank you for this analysis.