A 2020 study found an interesting joint occurrence of neurodiversity and transness, something trans people had been discussing amongst ourselves since the early 2010s. That the lives of neurodivergent and trans/nonbinary people face similar struggles in a cis, neurotypical world is nothing new: the current administration, however, would like to link both traits together to manufacture a crisis.
Last week, RFK Jr. went on an ill-informed, irresponsible tirade about autistic cases being on the rise. Instead of focusing on the encroaching measles wave encouraged by RFK Jr.’s anti-vax stance, the U.S. Health Secretary (insane that we have to call him that) told a recent Texas audience that autism is a bigger threat to the country than diabetes.
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All of which is to say: we’re living in a timeline when both transness and neurodiversity are considered bad things, and now, the powers that be are joining forces to punish both.
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Sadly, RFK Jr. isn’t the only one we have to worry about. In the UK—which followed in our footsteps with their recent transphobic supreme court ruling—the NHS is planning on testing trans-identifying children for autism, as reported by S. Baum for Erin in the Morning.
“Every child referred to a gender clinic will be ‘screened for neurodevelopmental conditions’ such as autism and ADHD under new guidance,’” Baum quotes the Telegraph reporting. “In such cases, the team of doctors will have to determine if the child’s symptoms are caused by autism or whether they also need separate treatment for gender dysphoria.”
The idea that transness is “caused” by autism is of course absurd, especially under a government that considers both to be deviant identities.
As Baum explains, many anti-LGBTQ+ groups have used autism to try and erase or invalidate trans identities in the recent past. As Baum correctly points out, when it comes to bad-faith “science” concerning trans youth, all roads lead to the debunked Cass Report, the only basis (a pseudo-scientific one) on which anti-trans activists have been able to stake their claim that transness is a social evil.
The tying together of these minority statuses can be helpful thing if the research being done is in good faith and intended to help trans folks on the spectrum. The current linking of transness and autism both here and in the UK, however, is entirely in bad faith. It’s eugenics plain and simple, a move orchestrated to sow uncertainty and fear in ignorant parents of trans and neurodivergent children across both countries.
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