🧩 Our Data, Our Dignity: Why Medical Privacy Matters

Lately, I’ve been seeing conversations online about government access to Americans’ medical records—and I’m not gonna lie, it made me uncomfortable.

Not just a little uncomfortable… I mean really uncomfortable.

As someone in the autism community, and as a Black/Brown voice, this kind of conversation hits different. Because for us, medical records aren’t just paperwork. They’re personal. They tell stories—our diagnoses, our struggles, our growth, our healing. Things that took years to understand, accept, and even share with the world.

So when I hear about the possibility of that kind of information being accessed, reviewed, or even debated at higher levels of power, I can’t help but ask:

Who really owns our health information?

Now to be clear—there’s a lot of information floating around online, and not all of it is confirmed. As of right now, there isn’t verified proof that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has direct access to Americans’ medical records. And that matters, because facts matter.

But here’s the thing…

Even the idea of it is enough to raise concern.

Because once you start talking about access to medical data, you’re no longer just talking about policy—you’re talking about people. Real people. People with diagnoses like autism. People with mental health histories. People from communities that already don’t feel fully protected by the systems that are supposed to serve them.

And that’s where this conversation becomes bigger than politics.

It becomes about privacy. dignity. and trust.

- Daniel Gillespie