We don’t care what anyone says, 16-year-old Greta Thunberg is the breath of fresh air we desperately needed to give our world leaders a kick up the backside when it comes to climate change. From inspiring international school strikes to embarking on a 15-day zero-carbon voyage across the Atlantic to New York so she can speak at the United Nations Climate Action Summit on 23 September - Greta is doing something and inspiring people all over the world. More than most people, more than her critics.
However, just like anyone who has spoken up for what they believe in, Greta has received a barrage of criticism (usually from fully grown men and adults), some even viciously labelled her as a ‘16-year old autistic school drop-out’, who is ‘spooky’ and ‘boring’.
But it doesn’t seem like these comments will dampen Greta’s spirits as she has taken to social media to open up about life with Asperges and how nothing or noone will stop her.
Taking to Instagram, Greta addressed her followers, ‘When haters go after your looks and differences, it means they have nowhere left to go. And then you know you’re winning!
‘I have Aspergers and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm. And - given the right circumstances- being different is a superpower.’
She then explained that having Asperges has limited her in the past, but it won’t anymore.
‘I'm not public about my diagnosis to ‘hide’ behind it, but because I know many ignorant people still see it as an ‘illness’, or something negative,’ she explains.
‘...my diagnosis has limited me before. Before I started school striking I had no energy, no friends and I didn’t speak to anyone. I just sat alone at home, with an eating disorder. All of that is gone now, since I have found a meaning, in a world that sometimes seems meaningless to so many people. #aspiepower#neurodiverse #npf'