‘Sorry About That’: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Autism Talk Interrupted By His Own Quacking Ringtone

What the duck?

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was interrupted at his own press conference on autism this week by his quacking ringtone.

Kennedy visited Rochester, Minnesota, on Friday to praise local law enforcement for having one of the best response systems to missing autistic people.

The nation’s top health official discussed deaths stemming from “wandering incidents” involving people with severe autism and announced a federal program that will be modeled in part on Rochester’s work.

But as he spoke a strange sound interrupted.

“Drowning is the leading cause of death associated with wandering — children with autism are 100 times more likely to drown than neurotypical children. We have a responsibility to do better. When an autistic—” Kennedy said as quacking began interrupting his speech.

“Sorry about that,” Kennedy said, quickly turning off his ringer before continuing.

“When an autistic person goes missing, responders need to move immediately. They need to know how the person communicates, what risks they face, and where to search first,” he said.

The new federal program, called the National Autism Missing and Endangered Person Alert Initiative, is the first of its kind and will be run by HHS, the Department of Justice, and FEMA.

Kennedy said the program will build off of FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, called IPAWS, to create a national system for cases involving autism-related missing persons. Kennedy said they are currently “developing the framework, working with our federal, local and state partners to turn it into an effective national capability.”

“Our goal is an autism-specific alert capability that gets critical information to authorities and the public quickly and helps bring missing persons home safely,” he said.

Rochester law enforcement have direct training on dealing with autism-related cases, Kennedy said, and he wants that same training on a national level.

“Here in Rochester, they have a perfect record of recovery without losing anybody, and that’s what we want nationally,” he said.

Watch above via FOX 9.

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