Sunday, April 2 was the ninth annual World Autism Awareness Day. Accordingly, our president has issued a statement on the day and the White House has been illuminated in blue in accordance with Autism Speaks' #LightItUpBlue campaign.
Despite this performative support, it's hard to argue that Donald Trump cares about those on the autism spectrum enough to even warrant the White House pretending to Light It Up. The puzzle pieces and flashy lights are nice and all, but it would be nicer if he put his money where his mouth is.
Trump delights in spreading misinformation on every subject. He's been a high-profile perpetrator of the myth that vaccines cause autism — a subject on which scientists could not be more in agreement that he is wrong. It's not that his position isn't being respected. It's that there is no data at all that supports him. He's simply, unequivocally ignorant and doing his level best to make sure as many people know it as possible.
As in many of the areas in which his lack of knowledge is apparent, this ignorance hurts people. Misinforming people leads to them not getting their children vaccinated. There are parents with a child on the autism spectrum who have not vaccinated the younger siblings because they were afraid that was what had given their first child the disorder.
But I've argued against the anti-vax line before. I don't need to do it again. Instead, let's talk about how President Trump's words hurt people who are on the autism spectrum — the very people he's making a clumsy swipe at supporting by lighting the White House up. The attitude our president espouses essentially holds autism spectrum disorders as a whip over the heads of parents, terrifying them away from giving their children basic preventative medical care by threatening them with a Big, Bad, Scary Monster.
The problem is that that "monster" is just a part of some people. And it does hurt people on the autism spectrum when people try to use them to fearmonger. Understandably, it doesn't feel good when people like the president spout the position that death by measles is a more acceptable fate than having a child who is like you.
Dredging up that long-since-decided debate also runs the risk of wasting money and time on scientific research on a case that should already be closed, instead of funding research that might help make the lives of people with autism spectrum disorders easier.
Not to mention that policy-wise, even with what little policy Trump's actually been involved in, you couldn't exactly call him helpful to the families of the 1 in 68 children diagnosed with autism. The Affordable Care Act made the lives of millions of families better by expanding healthcare coverage — but Trump has been nothing but excited about repealing it, while offering up a replacement whose cuts to Medicaid would hurt the 36 percent of the millions of children who are classified as "special needs" who rely on that coverage for care.
The president can give lip service to Autism Awareness until he's blue in the face. But it won't change that he has a bad habit of hurting the community of people with autism spectrum disorders more than he helps them.