I Fact Check a Fact Check of RFK Jr.

Part 1

It was the spring of 2004 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The prickly pears were blooming. "Class is cancelled next Thursday," announced my grad school research methods prof. "Bobby Kennedy Jr's speaking."

I didn't know anything about Bobby Kennedy Jr. The next Thursday, I sat my purple-haired self down in our campus's biggest auditorium. In his raspy voice, he told us of his long fight suing polluters of the Hudson River. He struck me as genuinely dedicated to advocating for environmental health.

In the twenty years since, mocking Bobby Kennedy Jr has turned into a national pastime. This cartoon exemplifies how he's seen in US culture.

Now, with Trump's appointment of Robert F Kennedy Jr to Secretary of Health and Human Services, people are concerned. They worry that if confirmed, he’ll ruin our nation’s public health.

I've been wanting to fact check a fact check on Robert F Kennedy Jr for a long time. However, I didn't want to pick a typical hit piece on him, which would be fun and easy. I wanted to check a serious, science-based criticism of him.

The one I selected is thanks to a suggestion from Ed Rodgers. Check out his terrific newsletter about psychology and personal growth.

Here’s the article. It's called “Fact-checking RFK Jr's views on health policy.” No names of the journalists are disclosed; the author is just "BBC Verify team”. Let's verify it for ourselves.

The first section of the BBC fact check is Vaccine Safety.

[Kennedy] has repeatedly stated widely debunked claims about vaccine harm . . . Multiple studies since, across many countries, have concluded there is no link between vaccines and autism.”

So begins BBC Verify. The only problem is that they then proceed in citing no such studies.

Why Autism?

I've never understood why the press always zeroes in on autism when covering the discourse questioning vaccine safety. Many issues other than autism have been studied, but they go ignored by media institutions.

On a related note, the end of this post discusses the important and nuanced problem with pathologizing neurodivergence.

Kennedy has written three books that mention vaccines. Most of his message does not focus on autism. If those books contain errors, this article by BBC Verify would be the perfect place to point them out. But it doesn't.

Nevertheless, since BBC Verify focuses on autism, so will I. Although they provide no links to studies on vaccines, they do link to a WHO fact sheet. And that's what we'll dive into in Part 2, the next edition of this newsletter.

Respecting Neurodivergence

I want to make clear that I believe in celebrating diversity, not turning it into a disorder. I believe in seeing people for their strengths, not our deficiencies. I think that more often than not, it's society that needs to change, not marginalized groups.

I want to sincerely thank autism awareness enthusiasts such as The Sensitive Artist (check out her phenomenal newsletter) and Pascale Larivierre, whose post What is ‘severe autism’? is well worth reading.

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Meanwhile, some children's development sharply regresses. Some are later diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Their parents lose the ability to connect deeply with them. Many of these parents leave their careers in order to care for their children full time for the rest of their lives. I imagine it would be harder to accept autism if I had a child at Level 3.

This huge population of parents needs support. And we’ve got to stop ridiculing those who attribute their child's regression to the shot preceding it.

These parents are not pathologizing Level 1 of ASD, and neither is Kennedy. But yes, essentially, he’s pathologizing Level 3. You may have a problem with that. I respect that. And I hope you'll stick with me anyway.

There’s a good chance you know more than I about neurodivergence. If this post got something wrong, please comment.