I am autistic. I know, shock horror! I am also staunchly anti-fascist because I am not a wildly insecure white man who refuses to go to therapy. So, when Trump blamed autism on Tylenol use during pregnancy, my ears pricked up. It’s not just that this is an undoubtedly false and dangerous piece of misinformation — I am curious as to why RFK Jr and Trump chose this specific talking point. They could have gone in a different direction, one that is even more damaging, but that would have concentrated power in them infinitely more. And the fact that they didn’t take this route is telling, to say the least. Let me explain.
Let’s start off with the fact that neither Trump nor RFK Jr provided any evidence to support this dramatic shift in policy. Not even a rushed, hastily written report by ChatGPT with fake citations. That alone is pretty insane, and under normal circumstances would lead to resignations, firings, investigations and impeachments. This shows we have truly entered the post-scientific era.
Let’s also point out that autism was officially defined in 1943, with the term first being coined in 1911, and there are medical reports about autism-like symptoms that date back to the 1800s. Meanwhile, Tylenol, also known as paracetamol or acetaminophen, was first synthesised in 1893 but wasn’t used as a painkiller until 1955. So, no matter how you measure it, our awareness of autism outdates the invention and use of Tylenol.
But here’s the thing: there was a study conducted of over two million pregnancies which found that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy correlated with an increased likelihood of autism in the child. So, why didn’t Trump or RFK Jr cite that?
Because while the study itself was solid, that insight was an utter fucking joke.
For one, it found that the increased “risk” of the child developing autism was only 0.09%. From what I can see, that is within the margin of error, and would not otherwise be considered a significant risk. Especially when Tylenol is used to control fevers during pregnancy, which have a far, far higher risk of severe adverse health impacts to a foetus.
Calling this a “risk” is also wildly dehumanising. In the vast majority of cases, neurodivergence is not detrimental. All it means is that our brains process information differently. It is not better or worse than a neurotypical person. Sadly, our built environments are optimised for neurotypical people, which can lead to autistic people experiencing deep trauma, as we are forced to bend to fit in. In fact, studies into comorbid C-PTSD and autism often struggle to find a control group of autistic people who do not have CPTSD, even though we know CPTSD is not caused by neurodivergence. So, it is true that we neurodivergent people are struggling, but the science overwhelmingly points out that this isn’t because of our condition but the hostile social environment around us. Reports like this, and RFK Jr & Trump’s actions, only further my point.
What is interesting is that if you correct for family factors, this correlation disappears. A recent study took this data and used it to conduct a sibling control study. It looked at siblings where one had been exposed to Tylenol during pregnancy and one hadn’t to see if this correlation remained, and ultimately it didn’t. If Tylenol were a “risk” factor, it should have remained. That is why RFK Jr and Trump didn’t cite that study, because its findings have already been widely debunked!
Also, we do actually know what causes autism! Legitimate science has found that autism is likely a complex genetic condition that is inheritable. In other words, if you or your partner are autistic, your children will likely be too. So the real cause of autism is that we are just too damn sexy…
But we can also explain the initial incorrect results by taking the realities of autism into account. Autistic people tend to be hypersensitive — if there is something going wrong with our bodies, we tend to pick it up much quicker than neurotypicals. There is also mounting evidence that the long-term trauma society forces onto autistics (along with some other genetic factors) means we have a higher rate of compromised immune systems than neurotypicals. So, in other words, an autistic mother is more likely to get a fever during pregnancy and is more likely to notice it and medicate for it, as well as being more likely to have an offspring with autism in the first place. So we can explain that 0.09% away, without blaming Tylenol.
This is why it is so essential to conduct proper studies with control groups, which the more recent study achieved.
But RFK Jr and Trump are worried about the skyrocketing rate of autism diagnoses. Surely something has to be causing that, right?
Well, something is! Better diagnosis tools and better access to them.
I myself have both autism and ADD. It was only recently that the medical community even recognised that these conditions could be comorbid. In other words, I have only recently been able to get an autism diagnosis, as the previous diagnostic tools wouldn’t have been finely-tuned enough to identify me. The same is true for women. The science says the rates of autism should be the same in men and women, yet men are overwhelmingly diagnosed more. Why? Well, one reason is that women tend to learn to mask their autism better and from a younger age, which our diagnostic tools were unable to account for.
On top of all of that, just getting a diagnosis is damn difficult. I had to shell out thousands of pounds to get a private autism diagnosis and had to travel halfway across the country to get an ADD diagnosis, which is something many people can’t do. But the barriers to getting such a diagnosis are being torn down.
Medical professionals have known for decades that, thanks to these limitations, neurodivergence has gone mostly undiagnosed. In fact, in the UK, it is estimated that 90% of autistic adults go undiagnosed! So, of course, as better diagnosis tools are rolled out, and awareness of these conditions and access to diagnosis tools increase, the number of people diagnosed with autism will increase. You have to have had a considerable part of your brain eaten by worms not to realise that…
However, despite all of these factors, the estimated percentage of the population with autism, around 1% to 2%, has remained virtually the same for the past three decades. So no, the actual number of people who have autism is not increasing; we are just growing more aware of them.
Okay, so now we have spent a silly amount of time debunking the obviously false misinformation, there is the obvious question: Why are Trump and RFK Jr doing this?
It’s simple. To gain power.
Since autism was first defined, it has been used to marginalise autistic people and has been used as a stick to falsely beat women with, particularly mothers. This is just a continuation of that heinous trend. It demonises and dehumanises the autistic community while doing the same to women.
How does that give them power?
Well, they are fascist. Or in layman’s terms, bullies. They gain power by oppressing others, as they have no ability to do it any other way. That is why all fascist regimes are sexist, racist, and ableist. They need to force society into only seeing them — i.e., white “non-disabled” men — as “worthy”, because that destroys a huge percentage of their opposition. 50% of the US population are women, and 28.7% are disabled (including neurodivergent people), which means that when they come together as a voting block, they form an overwhelming majority. Women and the disabled historically have been far less supportive of far-right policies, as they directly damage their quality of life. In other words, fascism can only proliferate and take control if these groups are demonised and marginalised beyond belief, removing them from the voting pool. Likewise, some of the biggest threats to the rise of fascism come from these groups. Historically speaking, anti-fascist groups tend to have a close connection to women’s and disabled movements and are often spearheaded by them.
That is why they are doing this. To oppress those who have the means and ability to cripple Trump’s grasp on power. It is straight out of the fascist handbook.
Or is it?
Because there is a far more oppressive tool available to them here.
The overwhelming scientific consensus is that autism is genetic and inheritable. If Trump and RFK Jr really wanted to oppress women and the disabled, they could have reached for the clichéd eugenics option. They could call for autistic people to be barred from reproducing. Hell, RFK Jr is putting together a national registry of autistic people, so he could do exactly that. But they don’t have to do this directly either. They could claim that autistic women don’t pay enough tax to warrant medical cover (which isn’t true), making having kids as an autistic person incredibly difficult. This would oppress women’s bodily rights and horrifically damage a large portion of the disabled community.
This isn’t a far reach for them either. After all, Trump has said that migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” Trump, Musk and many other influential figures within MAGA openly peddle white supremacist nonsense. Calling for these kinds of heinous oppression was always on the table.
But they didn’t take it. Why?
Ultimately, it is to test the precedent. They want to see how far they can push the “because our dear leader said so” mentality. Because if this more palatable option flies, they can, and will, do more to oppress and consolidate power. However, that doesn’t answer the question of why they chose the Tylenol option over the arguably more powerful and politically viable eugenics option.
That is because Trump isn’t fascist; he is neo-fascist.
This world is far more liberal (for want of a better word) and interconnected than the world fascism originated in. We, even with the uprising of MAGA, are not as tolerant of the oppression fascism entails. So, Trump has to dress it up. Concentration camps are migrant detention centres, a coup was just a little protest, you get the idea. Everything is a dog whistle, because if he pushed what he actually wants to do, he would be taken down by his own.
The same was true for the early days of fascism. For example, Hitler had to call his party the National Socialist Party, or Nazi, because he had to appeal to socialists to gain power, even though his policies were the polar opposite of socialism. Yet again, a powerful figure using a dog whistle to manipulate his audience. However, once in power, this guise was dropped, as he was free to do as he pleased.
But Trump is in power; he can drop the ruse. Right?
The fact that Trump and RFK Jr didn’t jump straight to eugenics, despite their rhetoric and political trajectory making it a viable and powerful option for them, and instead opted for this much tamer option by comparison, is telling. It shows they aren’t entirely in control. It shows that they are aware of their tenuous grip on power. It shows that they are becoming increasingly desperate to find ways to consolidate power without destroying what they already have.
In short, it shows they are scared of you.
So, yes, from all of this bullshit Tylenol rhetoric, you can take away how horrifically sexist and ableist and anti-intellectual the Trump administration is. But is that really news to you? The fact that they left eugenics off the table, when it is so apparent they are desperate to pick that brutality back up, is news. It shows just how much power you still have over this Big Mac sauce-stained clown and his brain worm-addled muppet. That is news we can actually do something with.
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Sources: Euronews, The Guardian, Autism UK, Autism UK, JAMA, Keene, NLM, BMA, The Lancet, NLM, Neurodivergent Insights, CDC, Science Direct, PBS
Glad to know you're one of us, Will. Doesn't surprise me one bit, given the ways in which you show how smart you are.
One piece of good news - at least for we here in the US - is the the ADA has autism on the list of protected groups. Schools can be forced to set up programs appropriate for an autistic student. Fortunately, I managed to convince my nephew that if me and his other uncle, and my sister (his mother) were all autistic (which we are - or were in my late brother's case, his death was the result of being unable to deal with this N/T society), and that he should have his two sons tested. Which he did and as a result they are getting the kind of help that will allow them to avoid 20 years of hacking away to find out how my "super power" - as I later came to understand it - manifested (I'm a very good historian and writer, with an 8 hour span of attention, very helpful with research, and if a topic interests me, near-total recall, also helpful). I've been able to demonstrate my father and his father were also "on the spectrum" (if someone can do calculus in their head - like dad - that's a definite sign).
N/Ts are afraid of us because - if we find our "groove" and follow it - we don't need them. My partner - 40 years a nurse in a technological medical specialty - is also one of us.