These are kids who will never pay taxes. They’ll never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted,

Members of the autism community are pushing back against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledge to find the cause for autism by September, calling the plan harmful.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health and Human Services secretary, has spoken several times in April about plans to find the origins of autism.