There Is a War on Autistic People and Measuring Us by Our Productivity Doesn’t Help
Being disabled should not be a death sentence.
Editor’s note: This article was originally written on April 21, 2025 and was updated on September 23, 2025.
The Trump administration has started a war on autism. US Health Secretary (and part-time lizard) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went on a rampage on April 16th, branding autistic people as unproductive, undateable losers who will never get married, pay taxes or play baseball. On September 23rd, President Trump linked autism to Tylenol use during pregnancy. The President of the United States cited autism as “among the most alarming public health developments in history” and instructed pregnant women to avoid taking the painkiller and space out vaccines once their child is born. The men in charge of America’s well-being falsely labelled the developmental disability as a preventable disease and promised to eradicate the supposed epidemic by the end of the month.
Both Trump and RFK Jr.’s claims are dangerous because they not only perpetuate eugenics, but sow the seeds for violence against autistic and other disabled people. The Trump administration, and society at large, view autism as a problem because it defies the status quo and disrupts capitalism. In an economic system that treats human beings as expendable sources of labor, a disabled person’s existence is a threat because of our limited ability to complete that labor.
Let me be clear — autistic people make meaningful contributions to society every single day — sometimes, at the cost of our own health.
As an autistic woman who just quit her job to take better care of herself, his words not only cut deep, but fill me with rage and fear. While our community is busy propping up our most successful, six-figure earning spokespeople in response, I can’t help but feel that measuring autistic people by our productivity does more harm than good.
In my six years of working, I’ve made a lot of companies a lot of money. My particular flavor of autism allows me to think creatively and hyper-focus for hours on end. I’ll get so locked into my work, avoiding hunger cues or the urge to use the bathroom until I’m finished, making me a productive and dedicated employee. Many autistic people use all their energy just to get through the day, only to be left with nothing for themselves. With level 1 autism, I am able to mask and have held several full time, salaried positions, but there always comes a point when I burn out. Capitalism demands a never-ending supply of mental and physical energy, the ability to sit still for 8 hours a day and entertain surface-level interactions with people who were previously strangers that you’ll probably spend more time with than your family.
I stopped working 40 hours a week because I’m a good employee, but bad at taking care of myself.
Autism is a threat to capitalism because it highlights its inhumanity. Society has convinced us that there is no value or worth beyond our mere existence because capitalism forces us to rent and earn our time on earth. Being disabled is not the problem — the problem is a greedy system that would rather make us work, not for our own benefit, but to line the pockets of billionaires and fund genocides. For someone who is level 3 autistic and cannot work at all, the Trump administration believes that their lives have no value (for a gentle reminder, this is the pro-life party).
Police shot Victor Perez, a 17-year-old autistic Puerto Rican boy with cerebral palsy, nine times in less than one minute because disabled people are seen as less than human. Ableist rhetoric justifies murder through dehumanization. Rather than creating an accommodating society and meeting disabled people with compassion, this administration would rather erase us.
While it’s amazing that some autistic people grow up to be business owners and CEOs, we should not have to prove our worth in order to survive. Being autistic should not be a death sentence.