For James B. Jones, one of the stars of Netflix’s successful program Love on the Spectrum, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s statements regarding autism are serious.
James, who made things official with his girlfriend, Shelley Wolfe, in the show’s season 3 finale, tells PEOPLE that when the secretary of health and human services made negative statements about autism during his first press conference in his new position, he was “not particularly pleased.”
“They were plainly created from a state of great ignorance. Autism expresses itself differently in each individual. “No two people with it are exactly the same,” James argues, calling Kennedy’s assertions “flagrantly false.”
In his contentious statements in reaction to a recent CDC report revealing that 3% of children in the United States had autism, Kennedy made broad assertions about persons with autism’s quality of life.
“These children will never pay taxes. They will never have a job. They will never play baseball. They will never compose a poem. They will never go on a date. “Many of them will never use a toilet independently,” he added.
@people #JamesBJones, one of the stars of #Netflix‘s hit show #LoveontheSpectrum, tells PEOPLE that after #RobertFKennedyJr ♬ Gentle and warm background piano(1262846) – Noru
In response, James informs persons that “one should not apply a blanket approach or make generalized presumptions about people who have autism.”
While he concedes that it took “slightly longer” to build his social skills, which he had to “work harder” and “put forth greater effort in developing and honing,” he has done so.
“I have a permanent 40-hour-per-week job with benefits that I have had since 2017 and am in no risk of losing. I can operate a car without incident. “I pay all of my own expenses,” he explains.
“Aside from the fact that I still live with my parents, I feel I am doing a fantastic job of being self-sufficient. And the fact that I still do not have my own home at the age of 37 is due to circumstances beyond my control,” adds James, who also graduated from college with a 3.85 GPA.
“I performed really well in it. So, certainly, I haven’t struggled academically. I pay my bills. I pay my taxes”. I drive a car,” he explains.
“Look where I am today. I’m the star of a popular Netflix program. I have a fantastic relationship with a woman who I adore and who adores me, and everything is going well in my life right now,” James adds.
Further refuting Kennedy’s remarks, James claims that “it is not that there are more people with autism, but that doctors have become more skilled in identifying autism traits and that society has become more accepting of autism overall.”
“I would hate to see all that progress be wasted,” he adds. ”
Nonetheless, he acknowledges that “unfortunately, there are still some people who do not have a thorough understanding of those who are different from themselves.”
He describes himself as “very fortunate” since “the majority of people whom I have met understand autism or at least make an effort to understand it.”
When asked what he wants others to know about autism, James answers, “We need to be accepting of each other’s differences and understand that no two people ever have the same experience.”
“The fact that someone’s different from oneself is not necessarily a bad thing and does not necessarily make them a bad person,” he suggests. “So we need to be patient and understanding of each other.”