Following Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s recent comments on autism, the neurodivergent community is speaking up.
Love on the Spectrum stars Dani Bowman and James B. Jones have recently responded to the Secretary of Health’s “extremely ignorant” and “downright offensive” statements that people with autism “will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go on a date.”
Bowman, an animator who has appeared on the Netflix reality series since it debuted in 2022, called RFK Jr.‘s comments “completely false.”
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“Autistic people have the same hopes, dreams and yes, the same awkward dating moments as anyone else,” she told NewsNation. “To generalize and say none of us can work, date or contribute to society, is completely false. I have a job. I do pay taxes. I’ve dated. I have a master’s degree.”
Bowman added, “Wanting to cure autism implies that our way of being is wrong and it isn’t. We don’t need to be fixed. We need to be supported. But the answer isn’t erasing autism, it’s building a more inclusive world for all of us.”
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Jones, who works in IT and has also been on the dating show since it premiered, said in a TikTok that he found Kennedy’s comments to be “extremely ignorant, and to be perfectly frank, downright offensive.”
“I am old enough, I am of sufficient age that I can remember a time when society did not have a very thorough understanding of autism or similar forms of neurodiversity,” said Jones in part. “So, I am very displeased, very disheartened to hear someone make comments of that nature.”
Jones praised his special education program as “immensely helpful” when he was younger in helping people understand him, adding that it “helped me to grow and develop into the person I am today.”
Last Wednesday, Kennedy said in a speech that autism is a “preventable disease” that “destroys” families, having since announced plans for a national autism registry.
“These are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go on a date,” said RFK Jr. last week. “Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted. And we need to recognize that we are doing this to our children.”
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