In July, commentator wrote a column calling Swedish climate change activist and Asperger’s teenager Greta Thunberg “deeply disturbed”. Of the face of the school climate strike movement, he wrote that he’d “never seen a girl so young and with so many mental disorders treated by so many adults as a guru.” These kinds of labels are nothing new to those on the autism spectrum.
I’m autistic, and I’ve been called similar names. However, calling me something doesn't make me that something. It just means that the world has some serious catching up to do when it comes to understanding and appreciating how the autistic think, feel, and communicate.
Thunberg, who is currently in New York, sees having Asperger’s . And she is correct (although I refer to myself as autistic rather than Asperger’s, because I don’t feel comfortable attributing my identity to a male doctor’s name, even if I’m grateful for that fact that he began the process of identifying the characteristics of those on the spectrum).
Because, at this point, the autistic are so wildly under-appreciated and misunderstood that, in order to balance the scales, it’s important to emphasise our magic, and the infinite ways in which we can contribute something of value to society.
So superpowers we have, and superheroes we are, and this Nobel-prize nominated young woman is living proof that when our unique ways of thinking and communicating are cared for, and respected, we are fully capable of leading the charge and making a positive change in the world. We might not always find ourselves leading millions of followers, or wearing plaits, but we may certainly come at things from a different perspective - and a different perspective can be a very powerful force.
However many autistic children and adults live their lives feeling alienated, heartbroken, and frustrated. They can be left undiagnosed, or misdiagnosed, because how they think and express themselves doesn’t neatly fall under the category of what's commonly called 'highly functioning', which is really just code for 'capable of pretending to be like everyone else’ or ‘capable of putting those around them at ease, at the expense of their own wellbeing.’
Thunberg has spoken openly about these kinds of experiences, and the ways in which she was suffering and felt isolated before becoming involved in the climate crisis movement. She talks about how she had, "no energy, no friends and I didn’t speak to anyone. I just sat alone at home, with an eating disorder."
This is a shared experience among those of us on the spectrum, because you may or may not have noticed that most people in our society have very fixed ideas about what it means to be intelligent, influential, considerate and creative. There are many unspoken expectations placed upon how everyone is supposed to learn, speak, think, feel, connect and share. And we, the autistic, were put on this planet to compassionately question these assumptions, before turning them into glitterdust, and blowing them up.
So call us crazy, call us disturbed. It doesn't matter. The fact remains that we see things that others miss. We’re sensitive; we’re honest; we’re logical; we’re willing to fight for what we believe in; we express ourselves in a limitless number of ways; we’re passionate; and we're unashamed.
Writer Madeleine Ryan. Source: Hector Mackenzie
Greta Thunberg is merely a testament to what we’re capable of, and she provides a gentle reminder of what a dreary world this would be if people like us didn't exist.
Madeleine Ryan’s debut literary novel, , is being published by Penguin Press in the US & Canada & Scribe in the UK & Commonwealth during 2020. She doesn’t have social media, so if you’d like to receive updates about her work, please sign up for her newsletter .
