The U.N. afforded Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist with Asperger syndrome, an opportunity to speak before the General Assembly regarding the rapidly approaching collapse of the Earth's fragile climate. Wednesday's release of a new U.N. report warning that the "world's oceans and mountains are in big trouble from climate change" was conveniently timed to coincide with Ms. Thunberg's appearance at that august body. Also, Thunberg was recently named one of four recipients of "the 2019 Right Livelihood Award, known as Sweden's alternative Nobel Prize." Quite an accomplished young lady, wouldn't you say?



Photo credit: Anders Hellberg (cropped).

Asperger syndrome is toward the milder end of what is termed autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thunberg calls this her "superpower" or her "neurodiversity," as she described in an interview on CBS This Morning:

"I have Asperger's, I'm on the autism spectrum, so I don't really care about social codes that way," she added. In some cases, she said, her neurodiversity gives her an advantage. It "makes you different and makes you think differently," she said. "Especially in a big crisis like this one, we need to think outside the box, we need to think outside our current system, we need people who think outside the box and who aren't like everyone else."

Neurodiversity?

This is the first time I've encountered the term and was astonished to learn that major international corporations use consideration of same in their hiring practices:

JPMorgan Chase's Autism at Work program, which piloted in 2015 with four people, now includes more than 140 employees in eight countries performing mostly technology-related roles, the company says. Pilot program participants were faster and more productive than their peers, according to the company. "There are multiple factors that contribute to this, but the commonalities are strong visual acuity, attention to detail and a superior ability to concentrate," Autism at Work global head James Mahoney said in a blog post.

Well, I suppose neurodiversity could be climate expert–enabling or a plus on one's résumé.

To paraphrase George C. Scott in Dr. Strangelove, "I wish we had some of that neurodiversity." Perhaps twisting this bit by George Wallace would be more descriptive and to the point: "diversity today, diversity tomorrow, diversity forever."

Lord help us.