For many of those who know and love someone who is neurodiverse — living with autism — the words of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this spring stung like a slap in the face.

In an April 16 briefing, Kennedy announced plans for a national autism registry, while declaring the condition a “preventable disease” that “destroys” families.

“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. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted,” Kennedy asserted, characterizing some 25 percent of those with autism as severely impacted with the catalog of deficiencies he recited. “And we need to recognize that we are doing this to our children.”

Kennedy contends

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