Tara Cunningham, a neurodiverse woman who runs an organization that helps companies identify, understand — and benefit from including — neurodiverse individuals in their workplace, already is seeing the impact of the ignorant rhetoric on autism coming from Washington, D.C.
“Companies we work with already are seeing the number of people in their neurodiversity (employee resource groups) go down,” she said. “Some are simply closing them because no one wants to self-identify anymore.”
Cunningham said she is hearing about it in the neurodiversity community that she is so connected to.
“Service providers are already saying people are stop coming to — and asking for — evaluations,” she said.
Cunningham, the founder and CEO of Beyond-Impact in Toms River, said the damage that has been done since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. started talking about finding a “cure” for autism earlier this spring has been horrific for neurodiverse individuals in the workplace.
“In two weeks, he’s undone the work that has been done in the past two decades,” she said.
“People are putting their heads in the sand, hoping that nobody will look at them. Unemployment for people with disabilities and neurodiversity — which already was sky high — is going to go through the roof.
“It’s incredible: They say their whole goal is to make us all taxpaying people, but removing services and instituting fear is not going to achieve any goals.”
It likely will hurt productivity — and the bottom line, too, Cunningham said.
“Good companies have worked so hard to create psychological safety for neurodivergent people so that they can get the best out of the neurodivergent person,” she said. “In those instances, by outing yourself as neurodivergent, you — and the people around you — can understand how you work best and what your strengths are.
“And this is not just about helping those who are neurodivergent. Remember, helping the neurodiverse can help the company. If you’re stuck in a project, someone who is neurodiverse may offer a perspective you haven’t thought of. Studies have shown the advantages neurodiverse people can be to the bottom line.”
The impact goes deeper.
At least 1 in 6 individuals is neurodiverse. Many think it’s closer to 1 in 5.
“That is a lot of people to just dismiss,” she said.
Cunningham said RFK Jr.’s language — describing autism as an “epidemic” and a “preventable disease” — is not only factually wrong, it’s dangerously out of step with decades of research and advocacy led by autistic individuals and scientists alike.
The talk and the potential policies (a national autism registry when we don’t have a national gun registry?) hurt everyone, Cunningham said.
And will for generations.
That’s Cunningham’s greatest fear. Will we, as a society, stop identifying the neurodiverse — stop searching for ways we can work together? Will we go back to generations ago when those who were “different” were outcasts?
“Right now, it’s if I had a young child that was presenting, I’d be afraid,” she said.
Cunningham said it’s a call to action.
“We all need to talk. We all need to stand up. We all need to shout,” she said. “We need to get our kids services, because, without those services, here’s the reality: The ‘what if’ probably won’t happen.
“If you don’t bring your child for an assessment, and that child doesn’t get speech language therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, from the age of 3, you are literally stealing their future.
“We have spent decades getting that conversation going — fighting for 504 plans that help kids in school and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to help the kids transition from high school into competitive employment. We have spent so many years getting to a place where neurodivergent and disabled people get jobs and are taxpaying members of society, and all this administration is doing is ensuring that that is never going to be the case.”
It is accomplishing just one thing: bringing the numbers down.
“It will be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” she said. “If we make people afraid to get evaluated, then the number of people who identify themselves as neurodiverse will go down. It was the increased evaluations that made the numbers go up — nothing else. This just doesn’t make sense.”
There’s only one thing to do, she said: vow to keep speaking up.
“I will not stay silent,” she said.
