Summary

RFK Jr. is using private medical records to create a registry of people with autism in the United States.

The National Institutes of Health is helping to collect private medical records from government and commercial databases, including “prescription records from pharmacies, lab testing, and genomics records from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service, private insurance claims, and data from smartwatches and fitness trackers.”

Kennedy, a longtime critic of vaccination, has made the study of autism one of HHS’s primary goals. He has called autism “preventable” and claimed “he can find a cure for the condition by September.”

    • Pyr@lemmy.ca
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      21 days ago

      The only result they will find is that autism diagnosis happens more often in areas where it’s socially acceptable o go see a doctor for concerns about mental health. Deep red states will have “less” autism because hardly anyone will be going to the doctor and expressing concerns that they may have autism, and then they just go undiagnosed.

    • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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      21 days ago

      In 1936, three years after taking power, the Nazis ordered families with a mentally or physically handicapped person to send them to nearby hospitals for the best treatment. Soon after, they started receiving letters that their loved one had passed away.

      The first to notice the pattern was the clergy, who realized that the families in their congregations who had vulnerable members were ALL getting these letters, and they rightfully concluded that a euthanasia program was going on.

      Many spoke out from the pulpit, demanding an end to this atrocity, and Hitler responded, saying he was shocked at this revelation, and promising to end it. He didn’t, of course, he just buried it, expanded it, and evolved it into the Holocaust.

      To Nazis, the best way to reduce the statistics of autistic people, is to reduce the numbers of autistic people, and the first step in doing that is to compile their names.

      Of course, the real issue is HOW are they going to reduce the autistic population? Considering how much MAGA openly admires the Nazis, it’s not hard to make an educated guess.

      • werewolfborg@ttrpg.network
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        21 days ago

        They don’t even have to kill anyone on purpose. They just have to force people to undergo experimental autism cures, which have historically killed patients. An example of this would be chelation therapy, aka using the medication used to remove heavy metals from the body under the (unconfirmed) assumption that autism is caused by heavy metals.

        If a database is good enough to connect pharmacy records, medical records, and even health info from smart watches (which a doctor or insurance company would not have access to) then it would need to link patient info together in a way that’s not as anonymous as they claim it to be. Theoretically, this could be enough information to force someone into doing these experimental treatments in order to keep their driver’s license, even if they’re otherwise high functioning enough to not be hospitalized or otherwise force someone to get treatment.

        • lechekaflan@lemmy.world
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          20 days ago

          They don’t even have to kill anyone on purpose.

          They intend to starve the disabled financially as community outcasts.

          • UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml
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            20 days ago

            What are you saying? That the poor are outcasts looked down upon by the vast majority of people regardless of their political beliefs?

  • Ms. ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip
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    22 days ago

    Well that’s not great. This is the kind of shit why I haven’t wanted to get diagnosed. Granted I’m already in it deep for being trans and that resulting million mile paper trail…

    Behind the Bastards has a good couple episodes about what happens when people say they can cure autism (spoilers: many children die horribly)

      • enthusiasticamoeba@lemmy.ml
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        21 days ago

        The RFK Jr episodes also led me to believe that RFK Jr is probably not as neurotypical as he probably wants to think.

        Which is not surprising considering the amount of hatred and seething rage that some unrecognized neurodivergent people (primarily low support needs) have for anyone exhibiting neurodivergent traits.

        After years of social rejection (especially by family) and being denied support, many neurodivergent people learn to mask their traits at all costs. So when they see others openly express their traits or receive accommodations, it can feel deeply triggering, even infuriating. This resentment often fuels a cycle of shame and suppression that repeats across generations in ND families

        Most of the late-diagnosed autistics/ADHDers in my circle have experienced abuse from undiagnosed autistic/ADHD parents. These parents, having been forced to mask their traits due to less obvious support needs, often harshly suppress the same traits in their children to avoid stigma.

        Some people who’ve struggled want to ease the path for others; others believe everyone should struggle as they did. The latter are the ones who go on to try to abuse their kids (and sometimes a whole country) out of being neurodivergent.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    20 days ago

    Well somebody is ready to follow in the footsteps of the great dr Mengele already!

    And with “great” I obviously mean sick psychopath

  • dogs0n@sh.itjust.works
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    20 days ago

    An admirable goal, even though I’m pretty sure current science says it’s not possible. I don’t think he’s smart, but maybe the actual smart people working on this will get somewhere, and if that helps people, that’s good.

    Might not get anywhere, but I suppose it’s worth a try (assuming the academics involved think there’s a good reason).

    At face value, it does seem like an invasion of privacy, if there’s no consent to share medical records, etc.

    p.s. the nazi comments are kinda gross, if they wanted to exterminate disabled people, they surely wouldn’t need to make headlines about them gathering data, it could be a private affair.

    • zbyte64@awful.systems
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      20 days ago

      You know what would be an admirable goal? Curing whatever made you post this comment. To that end I’ve put you in RFK’s database because you might be struggling with context.

      • dogs0n@sh.itjust.works
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        20 days ago

        Wow you have totally changed my mind about my original post!

        Serious though, just here for discussion, but it seems that there’s a lot of sheep here that dont question anything or try to expand upon their knowledge… which is a problem, why can’t you reply with something constructive?

        Keep reading your headlines that fuel your anger if that’s what you want, but don’t reply to people that oppose your views if you have nothing to add.

        You had a chance with your reply to help me and possibly others understand your viewpoint more, but all you have done is make me hate u lol.

        Tangent warning thats too late

  • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    Autistic and other children with exceptionalities are already tortured (and killed) at “troubled teen facilities.”

    These are almost entirely unregulated. There are no requirements that these facilities hire qualified staff, background check their staff, provide evidence based treatments. Children who are marked as mentally ill are not considered reliable narrators, so their accounts of abuse are not believed. (It’s funny - I try to report things that happened to me more than ten years ago, and it’s “too late” - but at the time they called me a liar, called it a symptom and hopped me up on Resperdal. How exactly does a teenager in one of these facilities get help?)

    Turnabout Ranch, the place that Dr Phil sent kids like Bhad Baby to, allowed kids to be hurt.

    There are already things in place that would facilitate an Aktion T4 style program. Southern states especially have horrendous child welfare systems, and children do die in “treatment.”

  • pleasegoaway@lemm.ee
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    21 days ago

    Why is it so hard for some people to believe that there is genetic variation in the human brain?

    • sunflowercowboy@feddit.org
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      21 days ago

      Because the genetic variation is confused and muddled by foundational things they can’t understand.

      Simple things like family structure and the importance of it. A lot of autism overdiagnoses are purely from the developmental differences; economic class, quality of life, nutrition, exposure, and obviously parents or lack there of.

      For example, simple acts like kids getting to play in the dirt exposes them to beneficial bacteria. Which I could also see laying the groundwork for gut bacteria. With how common kids do try and eat it, along with developing nations cooking with it, seems at least conceptually plausible.

      I believe in autism and am not denying its existence as my fiancée has autism.

      I am more saying that there is a huge upbringing differential that can cause kids to experience trauma. Trauma that can give the same responses. Social media enables this issue by pushing kids who don’t have access to self identify, pushing a false representation. However, it is good for kids to be trying to put the pieces together - they just need help.

      • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        21 days ago

        Trauma that can give the same responses.

        That’s me! Early in therapy for CPTSD, we spent some time trying to determine if I’m autistic or just have autistic tendencies due to CPTSD. Turns out it was the latter.

    • UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml
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      20 days ago

      Some believe that their way of thinking, their neurological tendencies are the “right way” to do things in life. Others who arent like that are wrong in their eyes. Same with skin color and religion.

    • TheFogan@programming.dev
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      22 days ago

      Next will be ADHD people… and I’m sure they all will be sent with a camp, that will help them focus… a concentration camp if you will.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        A camp? Its not like he’s ever suggesting sending people to camps before. Oh wait:

        source

        See? Its not a camp, its a “wellness farm”. Aren’t you relieved now? /s

        • jj4211@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          So while RFK Jr. is dangerously and stubbornly doing some wrong stuff, this at least conceptually wasn’t a horribly dangerous idea, though perhaps uselessly naive.

          It was proposed as a voluntary sort of facility that someone could go do if they chose, and from how it was described, ability to leave whenever they felt like too.

          Generally speaking, I view RFK Jr as dangerous due to his convictions, naivete, and belief in some gnarly conspiracy thearies, but not intentionally malicious.