Recently we saw the global climate strikes, organized by youth climate activists around the world. Among them is Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish activist. Greta has autism.
But you probably already knew that because of the ad hominem attacks against her in the media. With virulent, hateful denigration on social media and television, Greta Thunberg has been relegated to the status of, according to conservative commentator Michael Knowles on Fox News, a “mentally ill Swedish child.”
Greta Thunberg is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Autism spectrum disorder is classified as a developmental disorder, not a mental illness, although it has comorbidity – meaning overlap – with many conditions, including some mental illnesses. In other words, as far as we know, while some people with autism have mental illnesses as well, Greta Thunberg does not.
And why does that matter?
Even if Greta Thunberg has a “mental illness,” whatever we define that as, why does that give people, many of whom are adults, license to delegitimize this young activist? The attacks against Greta Thunberg exhibit how entrenched ableism is in our culture.
Consider this: Greta Thunberg is a white, wealthy young woman. She is one of sixteen youth activists suing five countries for their role in global climate change. Many of these activists are people of color. Why is she the one with the greatest spotlight? Because as a white, wealthy person, she has privilege. This is not a personal failing of hers. She is aware of her privilege and uses it to raise awareness about climate change, which disproportionately affects people of color and poorer communities. However, being aware of privilege does not erase its existence.
In her neurotype, though, Greta Thunberg is atypical, and this is where she is attacked. She is not told that her opinions do not matter because she is white. She is not told that her opinions do not matter because she is wealthy. She is told that her opinions do not matter because her brain works differently.
Well, here are the facts: Climate change does not care. Climate change does not care about your race. It does not care about how much money you have. It certainly does not care about how your brain works. Autism does not delegitimize Greta Thunberg’s concern about climate change. Non-autistic critics do.
Consider their lines of argument: she is being exploited; she is being abused; she is in it for the attention or the money. Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain, although agreeing that climate change is an issue, dismissed her as “very overemotional.”
These lines of argument tie back to the tenets of ableism, claiming that people with disabilities cannot control their emotions or themselves. People with disabilities cannot think for themselves. People with disabilities are “faking it”; they want attention and money.
Greta Thunberg is not making money, and she is using the attention to spotlight a global problem – and the global movement against it.
Greta Thunberg knows why the attacks continue. People in power want to talk about what’s “wrong” with her, not what they could or should be doing. “It seems they will cross every possible line to avert the focus, since they are so desperate not to talk about the climate and ecological crisis,” she tweeted on Sept. 25. “Being different is not an illness and the current, best available science is not opinions – it’s facts.”
And the simple facts are that people with disabilities living on this planet, too: a planet which is in climate crisis.
