In remarks laced with scientific inaccuracies, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said on Wednesday that autism was preventable while directly contradicting researchers within his own agency on a primary driver behind rising rates of the condition in young children.
While I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t wish for anyone to have ADHD. It’s an incredibly debilitating condition that makes basic things in daily life absurdly difficult.
There’s a difference between “let’s embrace our differences” and “let’s not do anything to improve the lives of people”.
I can’t speak tp ADHD, but as someone with autism I can attest that while things work differently, there are both advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages are best described as a mismatch between the ways that autistic brains work and the ways that we organize our society and educational systems.
My point is to say that we should make society more inclusive, which is the opposite of “let’s not do anything”. However, I am very much against pathologizing and trying to eliminate autism as RFKjr is doing.
I’m very familiar with autism. While I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD, there’s a good chance I have AuDHD. And my wife has been officially diagnosed with ASD, so I know very intimately what it’s like from another person also.
100% agreed. But that’s not what you originally said.
Completely disagree. There’s a limit to how inclusive you can make society. And even if you did make society so accommodating that things like ADHD and ASD almost “disappear” from overall societal perception, none of that will ever make the internal things alright. The internal conflict, the struggles, the mental exhaustion from trying to keep up with daily tasks and social situations, etc.
There will always always be a disadvantage for such people. ADHD puts people in a perpetual state of internal turmoil. It is quite an impossibility for someone with ADHD to feel “contented”. Our brains just will not let it happen.
If there was a way to permanently “fix” my ADHD and be normal, I would go for it.