Neurodivergent News - February 2025

February was a surprisingly short month, especially given the fact that January felt like it was an entire year on its own. Still, that didn’t stop there from being a whole lot of big news, it was an especially big month for Autism.

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Autism

Kanye West is Autistic?

During his recent appearance on The Download podcast, Kanye West said that his previous diagnosis of bipolar disorder was incorrect that that he is actually Autistic. Upon learning about the misdiagnosis he stopped taking the medication he had been prescribed for Bipolar Disorder. A misdiagnosis like this isn’t very uncommon, in fact it happens quite often, especially with women. However, with Autism being a popular excuse for the way some celebrities have been behaving recently, this is one piece of news that should be taken with a grain of salt. That’s not to say we shouldn’t believe him, we should just be wary if he tries to use his Autism to excuse his actions.

https://www.euronews.com/culture/2025/02/06/kanye-west-reveals-he-was-misdiagnosed-with-bipolar-disorder

EmPath for Autism Giving Out Tracking Bracelets for At Risk Kids

With nearly half (49%) of all Autistic children wandering away from home at one point in their life EmPath for Autism is hoping to help keep those wandering kids safer with a wearable airtag. They’re called JagTags and the popularity for them has been so strong that they’ve had to pause applications.

I first learned of them from a Fox 19 report from Cincinnati, after another tragic loss of an Autistic child who wandered away from home. His father is also putting together a petition to create an alert specifically for Autistic children who have wandered. You can sign the petition here https://www.change.org/p/implement-a-joshua-alert-for-missing-children-with-spectrum-disorders.

https://www.empathforautism.com/jagtag-registration via https://www.fox19.com/video/2025/02/01/empath-autism-distributing-tracking-bracelets-children/

Pakistan’s First Government Run Autism School to Be Completed Within a Year

Much of the news we hear about Autism revolves around the Western world so when I saw Pakistan in the news for something so happy I knew I had to include it. The school will provide free treatment for Autism (no, I’m not sure what that means either).

10 Autism units have also been established in special education schools across Punjab, plus more on the way.

It’s estimated that 400,000 children in Pakistan are Autistic.

https://minutemirror.com.pk/pakistans-first-govt-autism-school-nearing-completion-350962/

Whooping Cough Linked to Autism Risk

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have identified whooping cough as a risk factor for Autism, however they say it’s difficult to say how much of a risk it is or pinpoint the cause. Children recovering from whooping cough have previously seen to have learning difficulties and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Professor Kingston Mills who supervised the research at Trinity College pointed out that in Sweden there was a sharp increase in the number of whooping cough cases between 1984 and 1994 when they stopped vaccinating for whooping cough and now there is an associated increase in Autism numbers from those years.

It is important to stress that the researchers are NOT saying that Whooping Cough causes Autism. They are saying that it may be one of many environmental factors that can cause Autism.

https://www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/02/08/whooping-cough-increases-autism-risk-in-infants-trinity-research-finds/

Anti-Vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Made Head of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Despite being an Anti-Vaxxer who believes that vaccines cause Autism Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) was nominated as the head of the HHS in the United States. One of his major focuses is finding out why Autism rates are so high, believing that they’ve gone from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 34 in just a few decades. No one is entirely sure where this 1 in 10,000 number came from as it is completely false and always has been.

RFK Jr. is also against the use of ADHD medication and anti-depressants. His new role will undoubtedly not make the ADHD medication shortage any better. And yes, that is still ongoing for more than 2 years now.

It’s difficult to know what all is going to happen with RFK Jr. in office. But, ASAN, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network did make a statement against him that is well worth a read. https://autisticadvocacy.org/2025/02/asan-disappointed-by-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-confirmation-to-lead-hhs/

Presidential Executive Order Creates Make America Healthy Again Commission, mentioning ADHD and Autism as Concerns

The Make America Healthy Again Commission will be headed by RFK Jr. and is intended to seek out solutions to the various medical crises, including Autism, ADHD, IBD, and much more. In particular it takes issue with ADHD medication, something that RFK Jr. has been very vocal about since before his presidential campaign.

Make America Healthy Again has drawn criticism from ASAN, ADDitude, and many others. Links to their responses as well as the executive order are below.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/establishing-the-presidents-make-america-healthy-again-commission/
https://www.additudemag.com/make-america-healthy-again-commission-criticism/
https://autisticadvocacy.org/2025/02/asan-condemns-announcement-of-presidents-make-america-healthy-again-commission-and-harmful-ideas-about-autism-and-other-disabilities/

ADHD

ADHD Medication Reduces Risk of Depression in Those With ADHD

Those with ADHD are at higher risk of depression and anxiety, but according to a meta-analysis on children and adolescents recently published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, taking stimulants for your ADHD will also improve your depression and anxiety. This isn’t the case for non-stimulant ADHD medication however. The study didn’t look into why this might be the case, only that it is. That’s a project for another research group to look into in the future.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022395624007246?via%3Dihub

Canadian Military Now Accepting Those with ADHD, Asthma, and Other Conditions

The Canadian Military is facing a staffing shortage and in order to correct that they’ve decided to start allowing those with certain medical conditions, including ADHD to serve. According to an article from CBC, Canada’s military is short more than 13,600 members. The reason they didn’t allow people with ADHD in before? They didn’t want to take anyone who had to rely on daily medication. Which is kind of understandable. You don’t want to be in the trenches and run out of your ADHD meds.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/military-recruitment-medical-screening-process-change-1.7465456

While I was collecting all of the news for this I came across a couple of worrying trends that I wanted to warn you about. The first thing is the amount of false information I saw. I saw a number of what I would have considered reputable sources reporting that Bill Gates said he has ADHD. But, what he actually did, just a month ago was say that if he was a child today he likely would have been diagnosed with Autism. I wrote about it last month’s newsletter.

The second thing I saw that concerned me was that websites are once again reporting that Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) causes ADHD and Autism despite the fact that last year there was a lawsuit against Tylenol, one of the makers of acetaminophen in the US, that ultimately ruled that there wasn’t enough scientific evidence to prove that it does. In fact, there have been many studies showing that it doesn’t.

Finally, I wanted to say that I am making efforts to move away from the big tech companies, and part of that includes getting away from Facebook and Instagram. I have an account on Bluesky, so if you aren’t already following me there I would love it if you did! https://bsky.app/profile/thendadult.bsky.social

And if you’re interested in transitioning away from big tech too here are a couple of the resources I’m using to find replacements for the websites and apps I use every day.

https://european-alternatives.eu/alternatives-to
https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/