These people are brilliant environmental advocates not despite their autism, but as well as or sometimes because of it. Autistic people, particularly given appropriate supports and assisted with co-occurring conditions, can be a powerful force for good in the world.
They may be blunt, abrasive, obsessive and/or awkward, but the flipside of that is their directness, passion and devotion to a cause. It's neurodiversity: we need both autistic and allistic people in the world, and to support everyone to get the best out of both.
Even when autistic people are positively represented in the media - which is quite rare - it's usually as academic boffins. And while I am one of those, I want to highlight some autistic activists, because autistic people are not automatically shut off from the world - we can experience it, care about it, and some of us are changing it.
Greta Thunberg
Greta is a fifteen-year-old Swedish climate activist known for striking outside the Swedish parliament on Fridays to demand climate action and adherence to the Paris goals in what she calls the 'Skolstrejk för klimatet' (School strike for climate), inspiring people around the world to join her. She was also involved in the Rise for Climate protest outside the European Parliament in Brussels and supports Extinction Rebellion. From her world-famous speech at the COP24 UN climate conference:
'You only speak of green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of being unpopular. You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake. You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that burden you leave to us children. [...]
The year 2078, I will celebrate my 75th birthday. If I have children, maybe they will spend that day with me. Maybe they will ask me about you. Maybe they will ask why you didn’t do anything while there still was time to act. You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes [...]
We have not come here to beg world leaders to care. You have ignored us in the past, and you will ignore us again. We have run out of excuses, and we are running out of time. We have come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not.'Despite Sweden's reputation for progressiveness, she says they are too short-sighted when it comes to climate issues and aims to force the government to pay more attention to the future and look past 2050 when she, and I, will only be middle-aged.
Speaking to Masha Gessen for the New York Times, Greta said that her autism allows her to see the world from a different perspective and that she has a special interest, which is very common in people on the autism spectrum. It helps her stick to the same topic for hours, or years - in this case, climate change. In the same New York Times profile, she shares some traits that are very relatable as an autistic person, including her general avoidance of new foods and her anger when things are wrong and refusal to stay silent. I commend her for not hiding her autism but sharing it without apology, and hopefully contributing to a better public image of it as something not to be vilified or eradicated, but accommodated and even celebrated for its good parts as part of human diversity.
Dara McAnulty
Dara is a fourteen-year-old naturalist living in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. He's originally from Belfast but struggled with the noise and busyness of the city until his family moved to Fermanagh and he could appreciate the quiet and get out in nature. I've followed his Twitter for a while now and found it a great way to keep up to date with naturalist causes - it's how I found out about the People's Walk for Wildlife, organised by Chris Packham. He recently won a Young Animal Hero of the Year Award among other honours, and has raised awareness of the plight of the hen harrier as well as raising money to tag raptors to help with science and conservation. He blogs at youngfermanaghnaturalist.wordpress.com and is currently working on a book due out in 2020 called Diary of a Young Naturalist.
He writes beautifully on his blog - take his post about the People's Walk for Wildlife for example - including poetry, and knowledgeably confronted the Tory government on their anti-environment policies during a visit to Parliament Buildings, a time when it would be easy to be awed into silence.
It's great to see him explain how his deep interest in and love for nature helped him connect with people when that hadn't really worked before, and how in turn that connection strengthened his advocacy; it illustrates the vital importance of special interests for autistic people and how they're both a source of joy and a means of connection. He has also spoken on his blog about having to push through his anxiety to do many of the things he has achieved. Anxiety can be a nightmare that massively amplifies the difficulty of tasks, and it's important for people to share their stories of getting through it to remind us that it can be done, and that advocacy is not just for the loudest, most confident people but for everyone with the passion, drive and compassion to stand up for what they believe in and make the world a better place.
He's also an advocate for youth, saying of his generation:
He writes beautifully on his blog - take his post about the People's Walk for Wildlife for example - including poetry, and knowledgeably confronted the Tory government on their anti-environment policies during a visit to Parliament Buildings, a time when it would be easy to be awed into silence.
It's great to see him explain how his deep interest in and love for nature helped him connect with people when that hadn't really worked before, and how in turn that connection strengthened his advocacy; it illustrates the vital importance of special interests for autistic people and how they're both a source of joy and a means of connection. He has also spoken on his blog about having to push through his anxiety to do many of the things he has achieved. Anxiety can be a nightmare that massively amplifies the difficulty of tasks, and it's important for people to share their stories of getting through it to remind us that it can be done, and that advocacy is not just for the loudest, most confident people but for everyone with the passion, drive and compassion to stand up for what they believe in and make the world a better place.
He's also an advocate for youth, saying of his generation:
Chris Packham
Chris is a naturalist, TV presenter, author and trained zoologist, who has been presenting TV programmes including The Really Wild Show and BBC's Springwatch for decades. He has also won a episode of Celebrity Mastermind with the Battle of Rorke's Drift between the British and the Zulu as his specialist subject. He has presented shows on all sorts of topics in recent years, from the cognition of animals to media representation of autism. He has also been involved with about a dozen nature and wildlife trusts, and is an Ambassador for the National Autistic Society.
He has run into trouble for his outspokenness against barbaric practises such as fox hunting and other animal mistreatment, and against the misallocation of conservation funds for charismatic megafauna such as the giant panda to the detriment of other species. While these comments did raise calls for his sacking from pro-bloodsports groups, this openness and need to stand up for what is right is one of the reasons I have included him on this list, and a valuable autistic trait.
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