On September 22, 2025, during a White House press conference with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump, they stated that the use of Tylenol (acetaminophen) during pregnancy may be linked to autism, despite any evidence supporting this claim.
Asking for help has always been stimagtizing for learners. When a learner needs additional support, we’ve put them in a special color grouping, such as the red group for intensive support and the yellow group for targeted support. If they need more help, we’ve placed learners in separate classrooms and even separate schools. We’ve forced learners to wear a scarlet letter for decades in K-12 education. Recent political figures have spread misinformation claiming Tylenol causes autism, once again ostracizing asking for help, and making it harder for educators in the midst of it. This isn’t just about false science; it’s about real harm to our youth.
The largest study on the topic concludes that Tylenol is not associated with children’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability. Learners are not diagnoses, not cautionary tales, not political pawns. They are learners with dignity who deserve support. In this era of misinformation and anti-intellectualism, educators not only have to play a vital role in the education of our youth, but they also must defend the need for support. Not only is there stigma and misinformation about Autism, but there is also a lack of pre-service and professional learning related to disability supports, interventions, and instructional strategies.
Imagine being a preservice teacher and having two or fewer classes in understanding how to support learners with disabilities, and then being asked to help in the education of learners with autism without ongoing training. Many educators face this reality. On average, a general education teacher receives at most one class regarding disability in preservice education and rarely any professional learning once they enter the classroom.
“I had to learn from scratch,” is a phrase I often hear when supporting general education teachers with understanding and utilizing assistive technology and accessible educational materials inn the classroom. However, once we shift from asking ‘What’s wrong?’ to ‘What works for this learner?’ I noticed shifts in instructional approaches. Educators began to focus on the learner’s strengths in pattern recognition and memory, pairing those assets with peer collaboration instead of isolation. Here are three practical strategies for educators:
Normalize Support
Support is a universal right, not a label of deficiency. Learners with disabilities have been “othered” historically. Our role is to center humanity in the need for help and approach our youth with an asset-based mentality. Peers may treat them differently, adding to bullying or isolation. We must be cognizant of and use inclusive language in the classroom. Identifying the brilliance they possess and leveraging it to get them where they need to be. For example, when a teacher framed the use of sensory tools, such as noise-canceling headphones, sensory stickers, putty, etc., as focus tools that support everyone to learn better, her class quickly began seeing accommodations as tools for success, not symbols of difference or deficit. The educator decided to name them calm kits, and each learner had their own kit with tools that they found helpful for them.
Share Accessible Resources
Families often receive conflicting and/or stigmatizing information about Autism. Educators can counter this by sharing accurate, research-based, accessible resources with families. Parents may struggle with acceptance if they’ve been told their child is “broken” or they need to be “fixed.” During my preservice, we were educated on how families of children with disabilities go through the grieving process of what they think is the “normal child.” When I entered the classroom, this concept stuck with me and how in practice shifting that narrative changes everything. One year, I had a father ask me, “What will she be able to do?” I connected him with stories of successful individuals with autism, scientists, artists, and engineers who thrived when their strengths were nurtured. The conversation reframed possibility. As educators, our responsibility is to provide families with understandable, empowering information that emphasizes ability, not deficit. As educators, we have a responsibility to serve families by providing them with diverse support options, which can include accessible information and responsive resources. We must consider the language we utilize and the way we approach print and conversations. Leave the acronyms behind and keep it brief but informative for families. It can be as simple as providing a quick, tangible summary and a tip to support them.
Disability Centered Professional Learning
Push for stronger professional development on disability and misinformation. Learners with autism hear these narratives and internalize them because the adults around them with a misunderstanding of the diagnosis and make false claims. We must advocate for building our capacity as we build the capacity and be a resource to others. We must advocate for professional learning that uses research and makes the research tangible and practical for usage within the classroom for all educators and not just for special educators. Putting the research into action in service of the community it is meant to support.
When we engage in professional learning that centers on lived experiences, asset-based practices, and up-to-date science, we strengthen our learning environments against the scarlet letters of misinformation and stigma.
As the bare minimum, our role as educators is to protect learners’ dignity and combat harmful misinformation. Autism is not a scarlet letter. Autism is not a warning label. Educators must lead in reshaping the narrative so learners aren’t defined by stigma, but by possibility.
How might we lead with possibility for learners?
*On October 29, 2025 Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now serving as U.S. Health Secretary walked back his earlier claim that taking Tylenol during pregnancy definitively causes autism, stating instead that the evidence is “not sufficient” to prove causation and urging a “cautious approach” rather than issuing a categorical warning.
