RFK Jr’s fixation on environmental causes of a so called “epidemic” in regards to ASD is uninformed and dangerous.

There is some caution that a society that diagnoses at higher rates might be more prone to overdiagnosis.

But we also might just be doing a better job at meeting the needs of more neurodivergent people.

What’s important is RFK Jr is essentially trying to explain a phenomena that doesn’t exist.

There is no “epidemic”. Changes in modern society have altered our awareness and the standards we use in defining neurodivergence.

And I do not believe this necessarily a bad thing!

For ASD, I know less but from what I am aware (2) and (3) are also big factors.

Especially as ASD was when redefined as a spectrum, this lowered the threshold of how severe symptoms need to be in order to be diagnosable.

Some possible reasons ADHD diagnoses have increased:
- Higher performance schooling standards raise the benefits of receiving a diagnosis vs going untreated
- Raised awareness and lower stigma have lowered the costs of being diagnosed
- The “diagnosable” threshold has been lowered

Essentially thinking of neurodivergence as an “epidemic” is deeply flawed because:

higher diagnosis rates =\= higher true prevalence of the condition

I think it has to also be contextualized that voter turnout was lower in 2024.

Swing doesn’t necessarily just come from people changing parties, but higher retention of 2020 red voters vs 2020 blue voters.

If anyone has any leads in the area (or remote) or knows of anyone looking for an Applied Microeconomist, I’d be happy to have the connection!

I also have a strong public health background (JAMA Pub), and my JMP was labor / health focused.

It’s a genre bend, and more comedy / thriller (and even musical) than it is horror imo. Probably could count on one hand the number of jump scares in the movie.

I’ve seen lots of cope that crashing the markets is part of some demented strategy to show the administration means business.

But no. The simplest answer is just that they’re not rational, and whatever strategy there may be is irrational as well.

I’ve pretty much made it a daily routine to send one letter or call in the morning. Always about a new topic… 😮‍💨

Even if he thought she was “God’s enemy”, isn’t it Christ who also said “Love your enemy, and pray for those who persecute you”?

Sounds a lot different than commanding people to “properly hate in response”