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There is so much wrong with this statement by Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary RFK Jr.
1) Autism isn’t a chronic disease. It isn’t even a disease.
2) Autism doesn’t lead to someone potentially developing fatal encephalitis (brain swelling) or pneumonia.
3) Autism doesn’t require urgent medical hospitalization (which measles can) & stress the healthcare system.
3) Autism doesn’t spread from person-to-person in the air.
/1
@dalfen @hannu_ikonen first, I do agree Kennedy is totally off base. However, I’m going to disagree with the idea that autism doesn’t stress the healthcare system. My own son’s hospitalization cost $6K/day for the 3.5 weeks he was in the ICU after he ate enough plastic over an extended period to cause two bezoars. Rehab was another $350 a day. (Edit: rehab was 650/day.)
@dalfen @hannu_ikonen
Could it have been avoided with better staffing in the group home? Possibly, but it would’ve required a more intensive staffing pattern. Half of the staffing costs in the group home are covered by Medicaid. So either way, it stresses the healthcare system. Do I think he deserves the care? Yes, but I’m not going to say it doesn’t stress the healthcare system.
@dalfen@mstdn.social@ccampboyle Again, I’m sorry to read that happened 
I have children on the Spectrum and dear friends who take care of their adult autistic children, so I understand how challenging and scary it can be.
While some people on the Spectrum need more therapeutic intervention than others (and can develop medical problems when unintended things happen, like unfortunately happened w/ your son), I was referring to known medical complications of measles in my thread.
@hannu_ikonen