Health Secretary RFK Jr. claimed that autistic kids will never "pay taxes, hold a job, play baseball, write a poem, go on a date, or use a toilet unassisted". Autistic people do pay taxes. Many have jobs. Approximately 61% of autistic adults are employed. Many autistic people play baseball. Tarik El-Abour, who was diagnosed with autism, signed a minor league baseball contract in 2018, becoming the first autistic individual to do so. An organization called Alternative Baseball provides individuals with autism ages 15 and older with opportunities to play baseball. Many autistic people can write poems. It is theorized that well known American poet Emily Dickinson had autism. There is an entire autistic dating show called "Love on the Spectrum". In 2017 a study found that by age 5 79% of autistic children achieved "daytime dryness" meaning they could use a toilet during the day if they needed to. The Health Secretary also alluded to his false claims that vaccines cause autism when remarking about "environmental exposure". There are many examples of autistic people succeeding and doing the things the Health Secretary claimed they "couldn't".
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