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Connections

RFK’s comments on autism stir passions

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Mary Hussong-Kallen
/
WXXI News
(foreground) Laura Silverman, host Sarah Murphy Abbamonte, (background) Dylan Dailor, and Jerri Lynn Sparks with host Evan Dawson on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Friday, May 2, 2025
A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.
WXXI News

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. recently made a series of remarks about autism.

RFK spoke about “severe autism” and said he lamented the difficult lives that people with severe autism have to lead. He even talked about creating a “national autism registry,” although his office later walked back that idea.

Meanwhile, researchers — including those within his own agency — are pushing back on a number of claims RFK has made about some of the facts surrounding the condition.

This hour, Evan and co-host Sarah Murphy Abbamonte sit down with a local clinician and autism awareness advocates to discuss the facts, their experiences, and the ways that autism has affected them.

In studio:

  • Dylan Dailor, autistic self-advocate
  • Jerri Lynn Sparks, autism acceptance, appreciation, awareness, and inclusion advocate for nearly 30 years, and proud mother of a son with autism (and his three siblings)
  • Laura Silverman, Ph.D., associate professor and clinical child psychologist in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center

To access a transcript of this episode, please click here.

To request a transcript of any episode of "Connections," please use this form.

Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.
Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.
Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson." She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.