Romania’s presidential frontrunner candidate George Simion has been rebuked after calling his opponent “autistic”.
“Autism Romania” Association on Thursday called the remarks “abusive and harmful.”
Simion made the comments to a television reporter on Thursday, suggesting the channel supported “an autistic person, poor thing.”
Simion will face Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan on Sunday, May 18, in the second round of the presidential elections.
Simion later said he should not have called Dan “autistic”, and shou;d have used a different insult such as “Nazi or “Marxist.”
Pro-European Dan responded saying it was “intolerable to offend hundreds of thousands of children and adults with autism spectrum disorders in Romania.”
“Wanting to be president and saying autistic as an insult is unacceptable. I strongly condemn this message devoid of humanity, unworthy not only for the electoral campaign, but for any decent person..The President of Romania, whichever of us wins.. must be the president of all citizens and understand, accept and help them,” equally Dan said.
The “Autism Romania” Association slammed Simion’s remarks, calling them discriminatory.
“We deeply disapprove of the fact that politicians use the term in an abusive and denigrating way. This is what we’ve seen from other politicians in general and now from Mr. Simion. Mr. Simion has used the term autistic several times during his political career. In 2021, we notified the National Council for Combating Discrimination about the statements that George Simion made at the time, also in a political context, which harmed autistic people, but the institution did not sanction him, considering it an opinion and that it did not harm autistic people,” said Liuba Iacoblev of “Autism Romania”.
Another group, TSAN – Voice Autism added: “We are witnessing a demonstration of ignorance and contempt for hundreds of thousands of people and families living with autism in Romania,” says Voice Autism.
“We will not tolerate neurodiversity being used as a weapon to discredit (people). It’s not just a lack of respect. It is a violation of human dignity. It is a direct attack on the work of specialists, on the effort of parents and on the daily struggle of children and adults with autism for inclusion and respect,” a statement said.
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