Minnesota’s first lady, Gwen Walz, slammed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert. F Kennedy Jr. over comments he made about autism on Wednesday.
In a Wednesday press conference on a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Kennedy said that “autism destroys families.”
“More importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which [is] our children,” he added. “These are children who should not be, who should not be suffering like this. These are kids who, many of them were fully functional, and regressed because of some environmental exposure into autism when they’re 2 years old.”
“And 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 out on a date,” Kennedy continued. “Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted. And we have to recognize we are doing this to our children.”
Gwen Walz, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s (D) wife, responded to a video featuring Kennedy’s comments in a post on the social platform X.
“This is deeply upsetting, especially coming from our nation’s highest-ranking health official,” Walz said in her post on X on Thursday. “Individuals with autism are family, neighbors, students, and coworkers and they contribute more to this nation than this man ever will.”
Gus Walz, one of Walz’s two children, has a nonverbal learning disorder and ADHD. During the 2024 presidential campaign, conservative commentator Ann Coulter faced backlash due to a post in which she mocked Gus, who became emotional during a Democratic National Convention speech from his father.
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) also criticized Kennedy’s comments in his own post on X.
“This is disrespectful and a flat out lie that further stigmatizes autism. It’s not a virus or a disease – it’s a neurological condition with a wide spectrum. Many Americans with autism work, pay taxes, and are living happy and healthy lives,” Frost said in his post Wednesday.
The Hill has reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.