Five things that actually caused my autism

Tone explainer: This article uses a lot of sarcasm throughout. My intention is to make fun of RFK Jr. and Donald Trump’s baseless claims about autism, and to start some lighthearted conversation about autistic traits. I do not believe that paracetamol can be causally linked to autism (because there is no evidence to suggest it), or that there is any one explanation for what ‘causes’ autism. 

Since April 2025, Robert F Kennedy Jr. (the US Health Secretary) has been obsessively hunting down the ‘cause’ and ‘cure’ for autism, a valiant mission which no autistic person ever asked him to embark upon.

He made it clear that he expected to find a substantive link between vaccines and autism, a long-held conspiracy theory that has propped up the anti-vax movement in recent decades. 

In a shock twist, Trump has instead announced this week that he believes off-the-shelf painkiller paracetamol is the actual culprit, and that pregnant people taking paracetamol are to blame for the increase in autism diagnoses (though he still dropped a reference to babies being “loaded up” with vaccines as another potential cause). Putting aside for a minute the completely irrelevant fact that autism was first diagnosed more than a decade before paracetamol was invented, there has not been a single reliable study that can show a causal connection between taking paracetamol during pregnancy and having an autistic baby.

As an autistic person myself, I’ve spent far longer thinking about what caused my autism than Trump and RFK Jr. combined, and I believe I’ve actually got the answers:

1. I watched BBC’s Pride and Prejudice too many times

Darcy is one of the most autistic characters in classic fiction. The BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice was basically on repeat in my household from birth, so I must have absorbed the autistic traits by osmosis. 

2. I grew up during the random xD era

Never was it more cool to be weird than when the Llamas with Hats videos were the peak of meme culture. Mix that with the fact that I was a baby emo, and being different/quirky/alternative was basically mandatory.

3. I wanted attention

I am the eldest sibling in my family, and got very used to all the adults being interested in my every move. Once my brother was born, I had to find a way to make it all about me again, so I figured being autistic was my best move. 

4. I wanted to be a writer

All the coolest writers in history have autism allegations. Virginia Woolf? Emily Dickinson? Janet Frame? Count me in.

5. I don’t know. Genetics probably?

The actual fact is that there still isn’t a known, definitive ‘cause’ for people being autistic. Does it matter? To me and most of the autistic people I know, the cause is irrelevant.

We’re more interested to know how autistic people can be given opportunities to thrive as our full autistic selves, unencumbered by bullshit social norms and nosey cure-seekers. We’re interested in the spectrum of autistic experiences, and seeing the diversity of our community reflected in media. I’d like to see more people embracing autistic ways of thinking, and allowing for more flexibility in our understandings of gender and social roles. But what I’d really like, more than anything, is just to be left in peace to watch Pride and Prejudice for the 47th time.  

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