Vittert Memoir Amid Autism Misinformation Debate

A local appeal asked residents to complete an online survey to help small businesses and community services, with respondents eligible for a $1,000 prize drawing. Commentators recalled the Kennedy family’s role in creating the President’s Panel on Mental Retardation and the Developmental Disabilities Act, which shifted care from institutions to community-based services. Critics say Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent repetition of long-debunked claims linking vaccines and acetaminophen to autism has revived harmful misinformation. Against that fraught public debate, NewsNation anchor Leland Vittert’s memoir Born Lucky recounts his childhood autism, crushing bullying, late speech, and the intensive, hands-on coaching his father provided, which he credits for his later success in national journalism. Vittert emphasizes learning social skills through direct coaching, character-building, and keeping his diagnosis private while building a career that included foreign correspondence and confronting political narratives.