AMNA NAWAZ: All right, let's turn now to an announcement made during that White House event about autism.

The FDA said it was approving an old generic drug called leucovorin, long used to treat the toxic effects of chemotherapy, as a therapy for some people with autism.

The active ingredient is a modified version of vitamin B9, also known as folate.

Officials claimed it could help stem what they called an epidemic of autism.

Estimates show about one in 31 children are diagnosed with autism.

Among boys, that number is one in 20.

Once again, here's the president.

DONALD TRUMP: The meteoric rise in autism is among the most alarming public health developments in history.

There's never been anything like this.

So we're going to save a lot of children from a tough life, a really tough life.

We're going to save a lot of parents from a tough life.

AMNA NAWAZ: For more on this, I'm joined now by Zoe Gross.

She's director of advocacy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.

Zoe, good to see you.

Thanks for being here.

ZOE GROSS, Director of Advocacy, Autistic Self Advocacy Network: Thank you for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let's just start with your reaction, the reaction from other people with autism and their families that you have heard to this announcement from the president and his framing of autism as a crisis in this country?

ZOE GROSS: Certainly, the way that the president and others spoke about autism at the presser on Monday was very disturbing.

The phrase ending autism was used.

The president said that the prevalence of autism should be none.

Once again, they used the line autism destroys families.

So, it was a very stigmatizing way to discuss a very common disability that really no one should be panicking about.

AMNA NAWAZ: When you say it's disturbing, what do you mean?

When you first heard them use that kind of phrasing, what went through your mind?

ZOE GROSS: Well, no one likes to be -- to hear from the president of their country that they belong to a group that shouldn't exist.

But that's the implication of saying we need to end autism, that autistic people shouldn't exist in our society.

AMNA NAWAZ: That Tylenol warning in particular we just talked about, how is that resonating among expectant mothers who are weighing whether or not to take it, among mothers of children who are on the autism spectrum?

What are you hearing about how they're reacting to that?

ZOE GROSS: People are very uncertain.

A lot of people don't know who to trust because they're hearing one thing from experts and their doctors and researchers, scientists and another thing from their government.

It's an upsetting situation to put parents in.

And especially this thing of blaming pregnant parents for their children going on to be autistic, we have seen this before in the history of autism, when scientists would say that refrigerator mothers or emotionally withholding mothers were causing their children to be autistic.

That obviously wasn't true, but it's a very sexist way of blaming the mother for the child's disability.

AMNA NAWAZ: If you take a broader look here, is this whole renewed focus on research from this administration -- they're pledging to invest $15 million to study the causes of autism -- even the push we have seen from the FDA to bypass traditional processes and try to offer therapy options -- is that welcome in the autism community?

Shouldn't there be more research into this?

ZOE GROSS: Absolutely, but not this type of research.

What the autistic community wants to see is a great increase in research that will improve our quality of life, whether that's investigating questions like why do so many autistic people have sleep disorders and what can be done to help us with that, or what is the best way of teaching people to use an alternative communication device so that they have access to language?

What are the best methodologies to provide services to people like personal care assistants, so that everyone can get out of bed, go to school, go to work, eat their breakfast, do activities of daily living in their community, as opposed to an institution?

These are the research questions that we want to see investigated.

But there's been a huge pivot leading even harder into causation research, which already was the vast majority of autism research funding.

That's not a step forward for us.

AMNA NAWAZ: So does all of this make you trust what you're hearing from the administration more or less?

I mean, how do you look at the guidance that's being offered here from the officials in charge?

ZOE GROSS: We would really encourage people to be looking to professional organizations like the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which was mentioned earlier, like the American Academy of Pediatrics, rather than looking to HHS or the White House as a source for public health information right now.

We find that what's coming out of there is not reliable.

AMNA NAWAZ: We should note you have shared as part of your story you were diagnosed at a young age.

You have lived your whole life knowing the kind of impact that these conversations unfolding at the national level can have on people with autism and their families.

What do you want people to understand about autism and the autistic community right now?

ZOE GROSS: Autism isn't going anywhere, and that's not something you should be scared of.

What we need is to be included in society, accepted and accommodated, whether that's with job accommodations at work or individualized education plans in school, whether that's affordable, accessible housing or services through Medicaid.

We belong in society, and we deserve our rights and we deserve accommodations.

AMNA NAWAZ: Zoe Gross, always great to see you here.

Thank you so much from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.

Thank you for your time.

ZOE GROSS: Thank you.