{"id":1063,"date":"2025-04-17T21:39:44","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T21:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/?p=1063"},"modified":"2025-04-18T14:26:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T14:26:14","slug":"gwen-walz-on-rfk-jr-comments-people-with-autism-contribute-more-to-this-nation-than-this-man-ever-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/17\/gwen-walz-on-rfk-jr-comments-people-with-autism-contribute-more-to-this-nation-than-this-man-ever-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Gwen Walz on RFK Jr. comments: People with autism 'contribute more to this nation than this man ever will'"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Minnesota\u2019s first lady<\/a>, Gwen Walz, slammed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert. F Kennedy Jr. over comments he made Wednesday about autism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a Wednesday press conference on a recent report<\/a> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Kennedy said \u201cautism destroys families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which [is] our children,\u201d he added. \u201cThese 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\u2019re 2 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd these are kids who will never pay taxes, they\u2019ll never hold a job, they\u2019ll never play baseball, they\u2019ll never write a poem, they\u2019ll never go out on a date,\u201d Kennedy continued. \u201cMany of them will never use a toilet unassisted. And we have to recognize we are doing this to our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gwen Walz, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz\u2019s (D) wife, responded to a video featuring Kennedy’s comments in a post on the social platform X.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is deeply upsetting, especially coming from our nation\u2019s highest-ranking health official,\u201d Gwen Walz said in her post Thursday on X<\/a>. \u201cIndividuals with autism are family, neighbors, students, and coworkers and they contribute more to this nation than this man ever will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gus Walz, one of the governor and first lady’s two children,<\/a> has a nonverbal learning disorder and attention-deficit\/hyperactivity disorder. 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.<\/p>\n

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) also criticized Kennedy\u2019s comments in his own post on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is disrespectful and a flat out lie that further stigmatizes autism. It\u2019s not a virus or a disease \u2013 it\u2019s a neurological condition with a wide spectrum. Many Americans with autism work, pay taxes, and are living happy and healthy lives,\u201d Frost said in his post Wednesday.<\/p>\n

In a Thursday email to The Hill, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said Kennedy \u201cremains committed to working toward a society where people with autism have access to meaningful opportunities, appropriate supports, and the full respect and recognition they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis statements emphasized the need for increased research into environmental factors contributing to the rise in autism diagnoses, not to stigmatize individuals with autism or their families,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n

Updated at 10:11 p.m. ET.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minnesota\u2019s first lady, Gwen Walz, slammed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert. F Kennedy Jr. over comments he made Wednesday about autism. In a Wednesday press...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1064,"href":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions\/1064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thenewamore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}