Last month, President Donald Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asserted publicly at a press conference that taking Tylenol while pregnant raises the chances of a child being born with autism, despite a lack of any conclusive evidence. In the weeks since, I have noticed a rise in GW students using ableist language. These discriminatory comments are very harmful to people with disabilities, particularly those who actually have autism. Generation Z has picked up on the recent political commentary on autism and has used it in a way that often crosses into ableism. Many make these jokes at the expense of autistic people, regardless of whether they agree with Trump and RFK Jr.’s announcement. GW students are no exception to this — they often make harmful “jokes” calling others autistic, use “autistic” as a synonym for weird or quirky and use autism as the basis for making something humorous. Many of these students will be our future political leaders, campaign managers, communicators and activists. As politicians, the language they use and deem acceptable will influence political opinion and the general population in the long run. When our future politicians freely use ableist terms, whether intentional or not, this will reflect poorly on society as a whole and make people reluctant to accept and accommodate people with disabilities.
I find it particularly disheartening to see discriminatory and ableist language used so freely at GW, a highly politically active university. Future politicians and decision makers need to be aware of the weight of the words that they use, especially if they are discriminatory. If the students at GW — our future politicians — don’t educate themselves and make efforts to stop using ableist language now, it will reinforce harmful ideas about people with disabilities when they’re the ones leading and making decisions that shape the nation. They will also make people with autism feel that in the eyes of politicians they are “less than” neurotypically functioning persons.
The way politicians communicate and the language they use have a huge impact on how the general population thinks, talks about and responds to social issues. When they use ableist terms, it normalizes these discriminatory ideas and concepts — which causes us to become a more ableist country. Even if GW students cannot be convinced of the moral reasons not to use discriminatory language against people with autism, they should be motivated by career-focused reasons. Using ableist language will not pave the way for a healthy career, especially if you are an aspiring liberal politician where you could be called out for having used this language in your past.
On GW Fizz, an app that allows students to post and interact with each other anonymously, there have been multiple occasions where people have made ableist remarks, especially following the news about the unproven link between Tylenol and autism. Some students have been making jokes playing along with the announcement. For example, one anonymous user posted a picture of Tylenol Extra Strength and stated they were giving themselves “SUPER autism.” This is not an isolated incident — there are many more harmful comments on Fizz and across the university. Another rudely claimed a user’s mom had taken Tylenol while she was pregnant, implying that the other person was autistic.
Ableist posts, not even specifically relating to Tylenol, have also popped up more and more across social media since the announcement. One post on GW Fizz — which garnered 400 upvotes — claims they were “brutally molested by 16 clowns on the vern” with the tone indicator “/srs” even though it wasn’t serious. Tone indicators are particularly important for people with autism because they can struggle to understand the tone of a post, or if it is joking, so for someone to misuse one in this way sends a clear message that they do not respect the communication needs of autistic people.
Another GW Fizz post questioning if they should “serve slutty or autistic this Halloween” gained over 500 upvotes. The fact that these posts have been upvoted so much shows that students at GW find ableist “jokes” like these funny and proves that many don’t see any issue with the content. Ableist comments create a stigma around autism by making it seem as though the term is an insult and something to be ashamed of. They also undermine autistic people’s experiences with their disability by making it a norm to joke about autism. Other individuals water down what autism truly is, using it as a synonym for being weird or quirky.
These types of comments aren’t just found online. They’re occurring in person, even in casual conversation with friends. Ableism isn’t anything new, either. The Tylenol news spurred a fresh wave of ableist comments, but this kind of rhetoric has been happening for a while, especially among Gen Z. At first, the term “acoustic” started as a lighthearted joke between autistic people online, replacing the word autistic with acoustic due to the similarities in the spellings. But once neurotypical people picked it up, the tone shifted, and what was once a “joke” turned into something mean-spirited and ableist. I have also noticed that people frequently joke about thinking they’re autistic when they do something unusual or awkward — but they actually don’t think that whatsoever, they are just using the idea of having autism as humor. This is very belittling to autistic people, because having this diagnosis should not be absurd, or laughable or something people joke about.
Additionally, the use of the R-word, a slur directed towards people with developmental disabilities, has also become more common both in conversation and online as a synonym for someone acting “stupid” or weird. This word was once a formal diagnosis for people with mental disabilities, but over the late 20th century and into the 2000s it morphed into a word that was used to degrade and bully. The word then became much less popular to use, but over the last few years it has made a new emergence. Gen Z must reverse this tide of rampant ableism, and this process must start with students committing to not using slurs or other offensive language.
It is extremely important to understand the language we are using and to know the extent to which it can affect people. When we make jokes, we need to make sure it isn’t at the expense of others, especially not at the expense of marginalized groups. If you are not sure if the language you are using is offensive or discriminatory, asking someone with lived experience about the language references in order to learn more about it is always a good practice. If you see or hear someone else making discriminatory comments, call them out and ask them if they know the impact of what they’re saying. Try to educate them and encourage them to learn more on their own. It can be hard, especially if it’s a friend, but it is important to spread awareness. As ableism and ableist language are on the rise in the Gen Z population, and at GW specifically, we must work to educate others on the harm that these comments can have.
Emily Porton, a sophomore majoring in anthropology, is an opinions writer.
