Health secretary is planning wide-ranging monitoring of autistic people’s health record and cuts to disability services

Autism experts and autistic people are pushing back on Robert F Kennedy’s “terrible” approach to autism as the health secretary plans more expansive monitoring of autistic people’s health records and proposes cuts to disability services.

A huge study on autism proposed by Kennedy will draw upon private medical records from federal and commercial databases, and a new health registry will track autistic Americans, CBS News reported on Monday.

A draft of proposed cuts to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), leaked on Wednesday, would also eliminate support for people with disabilities in the US, including education, research and services.

“It’s going to have an enormous chilling effect,” said Daniel Geschwind, professor and director of the UCLA Center for Autism Research and Treatment.