Trump’s tweets about the climate activist are part of a pattern.
Greta Thunberg was named Person of the Year by Time magazine this week for her forthright, uncompromising climate activism that has captured the world’s attention.
President Trump wasn’t happy. Calling the choice “ridiculous,” the president griped that the 16-year-old activist should “work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend.”
It was a near replay of his response in September, when Thunberg charged the audience at the United Nations Climate Summit with stealing “my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.” At that time, Trump tweeted sarcastically that Thunberg seemed like “a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.”
Both tweets are part of a pattern — others on the right have also mocked and dismissed Thunberg, with conservative commentator Michael Knowles calling the 16-year-old activist a “mentally ill Swedish child” on Fox News in September. Knowles appeared to be insulting Thunberg for having Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. Autism isn’t a mental illness — it’s classified as a developmental disability. But advocates say that attacks like the ones Thunberg has faced are all too familiar for autistic people.
“The go-to way to dismiss what an autistic person is saying in our society is to point out that we are autistic,” Julia Bascom, executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, told Vox in an email.
Thunberg may experience especially strong stigma from the right because she’s not just autistic, but also female. “Autistic girls tend to face a lot of pressure not just to act like non-autistic people, but also to live up to the same gendered expectations many girls face,” Bascom said. “We always have to be smiling and compliant.”
What Thunberg faces is a reminder of the combined ableism and sexism many autistic girls and women have to deal with, Bascom says. But Thunberg, who has said her Asperger’s can be “a superpower,” appears undaunted by her critics. And her leadership on the climate crisis could help fight prejudice against autistic people as well.
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