Autism Isn’t New. Our Understanding Is

Autism didn’t begin with Tylenol or vaccines. It began with humanity, and it’s time we started treating it that way.

Later this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is expected to release a report alleging that prenatal use of Tylenol may be linked to autism. The report, championed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will also reportedly examine folate deficiency and recommend folinic acid as a potential treatment for autism symptoms.

The headlines alone were enough to trigger a public reaction. Stock prices for Tylenol’s parent company dropped sharply. Parents began wondering if their choices during pregnancy might have done harm. However, the unease runs deeper than a single report or a specific brand of medication. It’s about who’s behind it and what he has said before.

This isn’t Kennedy’s first attempt to tie autism to a popular pharmaceutical. He has spent decades promoting the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism. In his first press conference as HHS Secretary, he declared that autistic individuals “will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go on a date.” These are not neutral statements. They reflect not scientific inquiry, but a worldview rooted in fear, dehumanization, and the desire to control.

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What the Evidence Actually Says

The scientific community has spent years studying the potential causes of autism. Vaccines, particularly those that once contained thimerosal, have been studied extensively and globally, and the results are unequivocal: there is no causal link between thimerosal and adverse health effects.

Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, has been the subject of more recent speculation. Some studies have reported associations between prenatal use and an increased likelihood of autism or ADHD diagnoses. But association is not causation. And the most rigorous research, including a large-scale sibling-controlled study from Sweden involving millions of children, found no causal relationship at all. When genetic and familial factors were taken into account, the associations disappeared.

Public health experts have urged caution, emphasizing that acetaminophen is still widely regarded as one of the safest medications available for pregnant people when used as directed. The rush to identify “the cause” often drowns out the quiet caution of science, which speaks in probabilities and possibilities, not political declarations.

See our earlier reporting on autism and the HHS here:

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Disposable America: Autism and the Machinery of Control

Autism Isn’t a Crisis—Stigma Is

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Autism Existed Long Before Tylenol

The word “autism” entered the medical lexicon in 1911, when Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler used it to describe a symptom of schizophrenia. In the 1940s, two physicians — Leo Kanner in the U.S. and Hans Asperger in Austria — independently described children whose behavior patterns included social withdrawal, intense focus, rigid routines, and communication differences.

However, autism existed long before any of these names were written down in case notes. The traits we now associate with autism have appeared across every culture and century. The solitary child who spoke rarely but noticed everything. The mystic who withdrew from social life to ponder the divine. The artist whose work was brilliant but whose daily life seemed puzzling to others. The eccentric uncle who memorized train schedules and spoke in metaphors.

They were not caused. They simply were.

To suggest that a chemical introduced in the 1950s could have produced such people ignores the deep well of human variation that has always existed. Autism is not a modern invention. It is a part of who we’ve always been — misunderstood, mislabeled, but present.

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The Brain Knows No Normal

We speak with authority about the brain. We point to MRI scans and neurological studies as if we’ve decoded its secrets. However, the truth is far more humbling. We still don’t know where empathy lives. We don’t know how memory forms, how dreams work, or how personality develops. People have survived with huge portions of their brains missing. Others function without key structures that science once deemed essential.

Despite this profound uncertainty, we categorize brains. We label some neurotypical and others neurodivergent, as if there were a fixed line between the two. But that line is arbitrary. Everyone exhibits traits that fluctuate across what we consider “the spectrum.” One person fixates on organization, another struggles with small talk, and another needs routine to feel safe. These aren’t defects. They are differences.

Neurology is not a binary. It is a spectrum — vast, fluid, and complex. To suggest that some brains are wrong while others are right is to pretend we understand something we clearly do not.

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Around the World, Understanding Replaces Blame

In the United States, autism is increasingly politicized. Government agencies float theories about causes, while parents worry about whether a diagnosis might lead to their child being tracked. But in many other countries, the conversation is different — more focused, more grounded, and far less fearful.

Scandinavian nations are leading the way. In Sweden, inclusive education is a legal right. Early interventions are funded by the state and are embedded within the national healthcare system. In Denmark, a social enterprise called Specialisterne employs autistic adults in roles such as IT, logistics, and data analysis — not in spite of their neurological differences, but because of them. Their attention to detail, pattern recognition, and honesty are seen as strengths.

Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme covers a range of therapies for autistic children, although recent policy changes threaten to reduce access for those deemed “mild.” Still, the national conversation centers on care, not causation.

In the United Kingdom, the Autism Act mandates that every local authority develop a strategy to support autistic adults. This is not a fringe issue. It’s a legal obligation.

Even in countries with fewer resources, change is happening. In Nigeria, autistic teens have created the world’s largest collaborative canvas to raise awareness and celebrate difference. They aren’t asking what caused them to be who they are. They’re asking to be seen and heard on their own terms.

These countries are not compiling registries. They are building systems of support. They are not trying to prevent autism. They are trying to understand and accommodate it.

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What Is Being Protected When We Demand Causes?

When governments become obsessed with causes, they often abandon care. This is not speculation. It is what we’re witnessing in real time.

After the initial reports of a possible autism registry under Kennedy’s leadership, some families began withdrawing from evaluations. They feared being tracked. They feared their child’s diagnosis would be entered into a federal system and used against them. These are not irrational fears. They are based on precedent.

The history of disability in the United States is a history of surveillance and control. For most of the 20th century, individuals deemed “unfit” were forcibly sterilized under state eugenics laws. Many were disabled. Many were poor. Many were people of color. California did not ban sterilization in prisons until 2014.

The Nazi regime began its genocidal campaign not with gas chambers, but with registries — cataloging the disabled and mentally ill, labeling them “life unworthy of life.” What followed was the Aktion T4 program, where more than 275,000 people were murdered in hospitals and care homes.

So when someone says that autistic people “will never write a poem,” and then proposes a system to track them, the response is not hysteria. It is historical memory doing its job.

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Understand, Don’t Erase

Autism is not a tragedy. It is not a mistake. It is not a chemical side effect. It is a reflection of the many ways a brain can be built and a society’s inability to honor that truth.

We do not need more theories about prevention. We need better support systems. We need housing, education, healthcare, and employment policies that reflect the full diversity of human minds.

You don’t get to label a brain as defective because it doesn’t look like yours. You don’t get to decide who is worthy of care based on whether you understand them.

You just have to accept that humanity was never meant to be uniform.

Sources:

• Is Tylenol safe to take during pregnancy? – Reuters

• Anti‑Vax RFK Jr. Plans to Blame Over‑the‑Counter Pain Medication for Autism – The Daily Beast

• RFK Jr., HHS to Link Autism to Tylenol Use in Pregnancy and Folate Deficiencies – The Wall Street Journal

• Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Children’s Risk of Autism, ADHD, and Intellectual Disability – JAMA (Viktor H. Ahlqvist et al., 2024)

• Study reveals no causal link between neurodevelopmental disorders and acetaminophen exposure before birth – National Institutes of Health (NIH)

• “A slippery slope to eugenics”: advocates reject RFK Jr’s national autism database – The Guardian

• “Laughable, if it weren’t so dangerous”: your responses to RFK Jr’s autism stance – The Guardian

• Acetaminophen Use in Pregnancy Does Not Increase Risk of Autism or ADHD, Study Finds – Parents.com

• Why does RFK Jr want to put my family on an ‘autism registry’? – The Guardian

• Autism Science Foundation – Wikipedia

• Causes of autism – Wikipedia