This is not a post about climate change. This is not a post about the ecological nightmare that our planet is facing. It probably should be. We should probably be united, screaming about climate change, screaming about the plastic in our oceans, screaming about the thousands, hundreds of thousands, of animals facing extinction. After all, without our planet, everything else becomes meaningless.
But it is not. This is about another issue that will have a profound influence on the quality of life and happiness of my children.
Greta Thunberg is a 16-year-old Swedish climate activist. She is also autistic; she has Asperger’s Syndrome – the same diagnosis as my son, the same diagnosis as me. They call us “high-functioning”, because we speak, even though many of us are not, even though “high-functioning” is essentially meaningless. We are as different as any three individuals may be, but there are some things that unite us.
This bright, autistic young woman, is subjected to some of the worst prejudice, bullying and ableism that I have ever had the misfortune to witness. Over the last few weeks, I have been collecting some of the worst examples that have come up on my timeline. At first, I was not sure why. I just felt like I needed to do something with them, that I could not just scroll by without action. I needed to record them, turn them into something else, for my own peace of mind.
Below, you will find what I have collected. I warn you now, do not read on unless you are absolutely sure you want to see. They show the ugliest side of human nature. They are brutal and cruel. They are appalling, shocking, inexcusable.
They will make your heart hurt, if you have one.
I cannot begin to explain how these images make me feel. I did not do any digging to find them. They just cropped up on my timeline, though admittedly, mostly in groups criticising them. I don’t belong to the other kind of group. I hate to think about what I might find if I actively searched for offensive material relating to Greta.
I feel sick to my stomach. I feel like something is broken and cannot be fixed. I feel incandescent with rage that such things should ever be written about anyone, let alone a child. And I am a stranger to Greta. If I think about her parents reading these, about her seeing such hateful images, I begin to lose all hope for humanity. Maybe we should just let the planet burn.
Greta Thunberg is autistic. Her voice is not quite the same as everyone else’s. Her mannerisms are a little different. The way her eyes move, the things she chooses to look at, they are atypical. She wears plaits, all the time. Who does that these days? Her gestures seem a little awkward. She phrases things in a way that is a little unusual. Her stare is more intense than it should be. It makes people feel uncomfortable. Her passion and dedication are unswerving in a way that is alien, and so they must be feared.
She is different.
When the mask slips a little, I am different. My son is different. His voice is not quite the same as everyone else’s. He phrases things a little strangely. His stare is a little more intense than it should be. His gestures seem a little awkward. And his passion and dedication are unswerving. He could change the world, just like Greta, given the chance.
But there are those who will mock him. There are those who would portray him, face horribly twisted, dribble slipping down his chin, like the images above. There are those who will put the word ‘retard’ next to his face. My heart is pounding in my chest as I type. There are no words to describe the injustice, the rage, the pain, that such a thing is true.
I don’t care if you are a climate change denier. I don’t care if you think she is a puppet or her parents are forcing her into activism. I don’t care if you do not believe a single word she says. I don’t care if you are the President of the United States or a Fox News anchor or the editor of a magazine. I don’t care if you are none of those things.
This. Is. Not. Acceptable.
This is ugly, shameful, reprehensible.
And if you have thought “She is a little strange, though” or “That stare is a bit weird” or “She is a little creepy”, then you are part of the problem and you should feel ASHAMED.
We are all aware of autism. All the hateful bullies above, they are aware. Awareness means nothing. Awareness is dead.
I want to believe that we live in a world that will one day accept everyone – true acceptance, not just a pretence. The treatment of Great Thunberg makes me feel like that is a hopeless dream.
If there is a planet left for us to live on, we will have to wait and see.
For more posts about autism, check out the Autism Category.
It seems that we’re in an era where people are just spewing every hateful thought they’ve ever had behind the “safety” of the internet. Instead of bringing the world together it has sharply divided us.
I absolutely agree with you. Its disgusting and shameful. My Ben has level 3 classic autism. The stares, the comments, the questions… I try to think of it as an opportunity to educate, but its exhausting. I wonder if people are even listening when I explain or if they’re just looking for more ways to make fun of him.
Hugs💌🌻
She has a disability. She isn’t brilliant nor particularly insightful. She isn’t a great speaker nor is she attractive. These things are not sins. They are not crimes. There is no expectation that she needs to be smart, attractive nor brilliant. For the most part most people aren’t any of these things. She may be more awkward than most. This is also no crime. I know many people that behave far worse than she without her disabilities. The problem is not Greta. The problem is with people that manipulate a person with diminished capacity to garner the attention of the press for their own political objectives. Greta is being used and when you take advantage of the handicapped it is a moral crime.
The politicians and news anchors who criticize Greta Thunberg are being ableist to minimize her message. They go on and on about her eyes, her voice, her speech pattern (which is her autism and her accent AND the fact that English is her second language), all to say “See? We can’t trust her!”
I’m seriously ready to throw a bucket of acidic rain on the next person who gives Thunberg a hard time.
I just don’t understand why any adult would think its OK to mock a child and in such cruel ways. I agree that everytime I see this kind of hate it hurts me. I too am terrified of the word my children have to grow up in. However on a daily basis I am reminded there are more people that care than hate. There are more people that support Greta than mock her and that is what matters. Sadly we live in a world where the people who make a difference have to suffer the consequences of fame. I hope the more we talk about it the more it will change in the future.
Are you new to the internet?
Not sure why any adult would pimp her out and puppeteer her in the way her parents do. Similar to the way their biological dad tries to pimp out my austic step-children for charity. Its fucking disgusting. You’re directing your anger at the wrong people. Your righteous indignation is shallow at best.
You should take a minute to learn a bit about Greta and her family. Her family isn’t “pimping” her out you broken brain bumpkin.
He father isn’t even that much of a fan with any of what she’s doing and has recently mocked the people, and Greta herself, at COP 26 by saying “we actually have jobs” when asked about future plans.
Educate yourself you dunce.
Unfortunately, this sort of bullying is standard right wing fare these days.
However, this may give you a little hope: “Why the right’s usual smears don’t work on Greta Thunberg (She keeps the focus on science, and they hate it.)”
You mean like when the right wing media attacked Nick Sandmann? Oh wait, that was the leftist news media. You are brainwashed and blind.
I cried reading this, for I fear you are right. I feel sick looking at those images and comments – what if that’s how people see my daughter? How anyone can think it’s OK to attack a child – regardless of their neurology – like this makes me feel so very, very sad.
I am an american 16 years old, and autistic. I feel horribly for the way she’s treated too. I fear for climate change too. But even without beleif in climate change, it is simply incorrect for someone to bully her for her autism. I’m not very bothered hearing people annoyed by “pushing the “hoax” of climate change”, because they are simply uninformed. But to see anyone criticize Greta based off of age and ESPICALLY her autism is not acceptable. People often say she’s just a little girl, but Greta is smart. Just like notable others, Autism has proven to sometimes make people smarter because they can see their enviorment differently. And for criticizing age is simple. Mozart was 5 when he wrote his first song. Anyone can do anything, so long as they put their mind to it.
I write about autism awareness and I’m afraid I think I am beginning to feel the same way as you. I hate (strong word I know) the world we live in. Two of my sons are autistic, in their teens now and I think understanding is now worse than when they were small. One gets very loud in public as a way to compensate for the anxiety and the stares we get! The other now won’t leave the house, social services paid for 2 visits for enabling, said he wouldn’t engage and never came back. If social services have no autism awareness then we really are fighting a losing battle. I did an interview with You Magazine recently and literally had hundreds of messages from people all in the same position, fighting for rights and awareness. It’s something that occupies my thoughts from the moment I wake to the minute I go to sleep at night. https://www.you.co.uk/what-will-happen-to-our-autistic-sons/
Reading this brought a year to my eye. My brother has Asperger’s syndrome, he’s a really talented singer songwriter, aged just 13, who was invited to perform at Freddie Mercury’s official birthday party in Switzerland just a couple of weeks ago.
What you wrote about Greta could so easily have been about him. He’s been ridiculed for his monotone voice, and bullied relentlessly by jealous kids to the point where my mum has been forced to take him out if school to home school him.
The lack of acceptance in this world is horrific.
I’ve never met Greta but I feel a sense of pride for her and the way she’s conducted herself in spite of the awful language used to talk about her. She’s held her head up high and actually called out this so-called adults.
She KNOWS that when the personal insults start it’s because they can’t find a coherent argument against what she’s said.
If it’s any consolation, kids mock other kids all day long all
Over the world
For every possible difference or “defect”. Without exposure to people with handicaps such as blindness, deafness, retardation , CP, autism, etc etc, how can a person even know how to react … or what to say?
I work as a tourguide in San Francisco for 23’years, fulltime meeting people
From all
Over the world. I have had five private family groups with an autistic son. They couldn’t sign up for a regular bus tour because of the sons’ odd behaviors. Knot to mention the fact that the son might react to the crowd of a big bus…
Most of the parents would ask me straightaway if I had ever dealt with autisitic kids before, just to warn me that he might suddenly shout out etc etc.
It was eye-opening for me, even coming from a very intensely mixed up city, to have real contact eg eat lunch with an autistic boy. I never liked teenagers even when I was a teenager, so I approach all teens with trepidation. They can be Terribly cruel and nasty with no help from mental issues… it’s real human nature in gross evidence.
You are the mother and suffer from your son’s social estrangement … but it is part and parcel of the disease and will remain so the rest of his life. He will slowly get used to it even if you do not, watching him with a healthy mind.
The real effort our society should exert is prevention, so parents won’t suffer in the future as you are doing.
I am also autistic and I would not change, prevent or cure a single thing about my son or myself. I do mention in article that I am an autistic adult. I do not suffer one jot from anything to do with my son. We suffer from society’s ignorance in relation to neurodiversity. Also, the examples of mocking of Greta Thunberg to which I am referring were very much from adults, and adults in positions of power for that matter. And the attitude that autistic people have a disease and should be wiped out is offensive to me and very much part of the attitude that I criticise in this article.
Crazy liberals hoping their child is retarded so they can show them off and gain sympathy.
I think you did. There is a link
I myself, also have Aspergers, and I see things from a slightly different perspective as you on this one. Climate beliefs aside, I am acutely aware of the manipulation going on from a political perspective here. I have looked into the XR movement, and found some startling evidence that points to other, more sinister motives and this concerns me not only because I feel this girl has been used as a pawn by multiple knowing adults.
Again, if that is your belief then you are entitled to it. This article is more about the ableist slurs and attitudes that are being directed at her from all directions, including the general public. Regardless of anyone’s beliefs about climate change or her manipulation or conspiracies, using autistic traits to mock someone is not ever acceptable.
And this, is your opinion. Not sure if any of the mocking images mentioned autism or asphergers…this was your pov.
They’re making fun of her for being a little dictator wannabe. Most people don’t like dealing with someone calling them horrible people. She sure can dish it out’ it’s normal for people to defend themselves from insults even those from a teen. She wants everyone to change their way of life. Do you actually believe that the world will end because of climate change? Should we use every resource and lower our quality of life because of wild climate predictions. Time and time I’ve been hearing about the Earth ending… ozone layer, acid rain, nuclear plants, deforestation. All the failed predictions of coastal cities being underwater by 2018, etc.
It’s relevant that people discuss her condition because that condition comes with unique personality traits. We can’t have someone yelling DANGER DANGER and not also inform the audience of her particular way of thinking. Someone being on the spectrum DOESN’T make them immune to fair criticism.
A) Yes, of course we should change our way of life. The world may not be completely destroyed but the death of millions of people and animals is still something we should all fight against. Our quality of life will be much lower when the ice melts, the weather is extreme and we have no food.
B) Calling someone a retard is not fair criticism. My post is not about fair criticism. It is about abhorrent ableist abuse and bullying.
Most of the people saying this stuff are just trolls. They’re not sincerely ableist, they’re poking fun at someone who seems pretty naive to the fact that the people she knows and loves are actually exploiting her.
hahah she’s retarded and so are you and your ugly son
you should all be SHOT
fucking morons, you are everywhere now like the cockroaches
why do you breathe?
why do you eat?
How was this allowed???
This is inappropriate 😐
She’s nothing but a mouthpiece for her Marxist parents. They use a mentally handicapped child to shied themselves from criticism but I guess that backfired.
Just goes to show how ignorant you are about science,climate, and Marxism.
She literally said that she doesn’t care about that. She is saying that it is wrong to ridicule and make fun of a child online. It can be extremely toxic to everyone. If only you read the article and if you were a decent human being.
Criticism is not bullying and ableism. Criticism is looking at the faults that someone made. It is not about destroying someone or ruining someone’s life. It’s about trying to change and tell someone that they are doing something wrong and that it must change.
You can say that she is being used but I can not respect bullying of someone that goes along with that.
If you can’t criticize a person without bullying a child you are simply a pathetic human being that doesn’t have basic human morals.
Backfire? The only real way that they could use that to shield themselves is if people like you existed. If you were never harassing a child and used proper criticism they could never use that shield. YOU are a weak person YOU caused the fact that they use her disability as a shield. If you can blame anyone blame the people that are openly being ableist to her and they praise them. How awful it must be to live such a miserable life like yours. I wonder what kind of trauma would’ve caused you to feel such things
What a god awful read. I could only mangage through the first paragraph.
And yet you went to the trouble of writing two full sentences in response which must have taken you much longer?
Thank you for posting this. The comments simply reinforce your point through their ignorance. The ignorance that drives climate denial is the same that drives hate of those that are different. The fact is this ignorance has been with the human race since the beginning.
The issue is most people can’t afford to care about these issues i.e. too busy making ends meet.
So when the prototypical being who is too busy getting through the week, the last thing they want to hear is a privileged teenager scolding them for living “wrongly”.
Yes saving the planet is important, but making rent this month is more important. Not only this issue, but any larger issues usually fall on deaf ears for the same reason.
And as sad as it may be once you are in the public domain leveraging your name, you are fair game. I would ask you to remove your son’s picture unless you are willing to have him mematized, if this ever gets any sort of traction.
What a load of of whiny garbage. Its just human nature for some people to ridicule others for being different and thats never going to change. We have freedom of speech in this country and anyone in the spotlight or famous, or anyone in general is fair game to be ridiculed for whatever reason. Instead of whining about what someone says on the internet, and boo-hooing because your feelings are hurt, why don’t you act like an adult and learn some coping skills instead. If your child is autistic or different or whatever there is always going to be people who say something about it. I’m not condoning it, some people are just rude, but it’s their right to say it and there is nothing you can ever do to change it or stop them. So you can either whine about it, let it get under your skin and bother you, or you can grow up like a mature adult and learn to brush it off.
Mr. Richard you sir are an internet troll. Nobody likes you so go boo-wooh somewhere else…
Are you saying, “all this making fun of people has to stop!”…? Because… is it your first day away from the turnip truck? Those memes are the epitome of “acceptable” in a world. Freedom of speech means Ms. Thunberg (I hesitate to use her first name, as I was raised to respect my elders, and I’d place her in her late 40s, early 50s by the looks of her) gets to give speeches to leaders of nations, then the trolls get to call her retarded and say she’s creepy. I don’t know if you’re just after the virtue points from your peers or if you’re really this butthurt about “retard-shaming, or whatever.
We all have problems. Greta looks like that Ukrainian woman who pretended to be 12 to get adopted, only for it to later surface that she was in her 30s, you have a rotten womb that spits out retards, I have a microscopic penis and horrific acne. See? We’re all just trying to get along on our getalongs. You need a healthy dose of “buck the fuck up.” Don’t let strangers opinions govern how you feel. Even mine, dummy.
as a parent of autism i don’t find any of these memes offensive ,what i find offensive is the parents for letting there children be used for political agendas and terrifying them that the world is burning and adults are to blame.
I am a 15 year old teen who suspects that I have aspergers after doing an autism test and scoring relatively high for it. To the author, this article is a beautiful one, thank u for writing this article to spread the love and joy for Greta thunberg.
Firstly, I really hate it when those media broadcasters shifts their focus from Greta’s main message to her facial features, her tone of voice, basically mocking her on public tv. Is that really needed? The main focus over here shouldn’t be how she looks like or how she talks but it should be what she is trying to tell the whole world! So what if she is a Swedish and English is her second language? That it mean that she does not have the right to stand up and campaign for all these environmental issues because ‘what she says might not be linguistically correct’ ? Can’t those public broadcasters just focus on her main message instead of trying to find fault with her argument? Why do they have to stoop down so Low to mock this child and diminish her self esteem?
Second, look at the comment that Donald trump wrote, even Donald trump is one of this mockers! Calling her “very happy young girl”, “so nice to see” after she had pointed out in her UN speech that political leaders only talk about “eternal economic growth”, anyone can tell that that comment is full of sarcasm and cynicism! I mean, it is sad to say how the political leader of one of the most powerful country can also stoop so Low to mock a little girl as “very happy young girl “ “looking towards a bright future” when we know that this isn’t what he means. Is there a need for Donald trump to actually make such a comment? It wasn’t as if he needed to give his opinion or something. Also, just to minimise Greta’s identity into a “very happy young girl” does not do justice to the message she is saying to the world.
Lastly, I really admire Greta for standing up to fight for these environmental issues. Many of us only care about ourselves and our family but instead Greta does all these to fight for the good of the society and “(literal) earth. Even though she has autism, it did not stop her passion from campaigning about these environmental issues. A role model for us teens! The ability to not fear of being judged is something that we teens should also learn from her! All the best Greta!
Lots of love
Ah – so this chick (who clearly has no idea what the fuck she is talking about) is allowed to champion a path that will literally ruin our civilization (zero carbon) and I’m supposed to hold my tongue because she’s a half a tard? Fuck that.
Reminds me of the scumbags like Jon Liebowitz and Jimmy Kimmel – they are allowed to spew all kinds of garbage, but if you call them out, they say “hey, I’m just a comedian!”. Fuck that. You can’t have it both ways.
Her opportunistic parents shouldn’t allow Soros to use her as a prop to push his currency collapse agenda. The problem starts in the home.