Her remarks has sparked an outcry from experts and human rights advocates, who warn it could restrict access to healthcare and leave a generation of neurodivergents without support.

Clinical psychologist Anne-Mette Lange of Aarhus University captured the resulting anxiety, stating, “If I were a parent to a child, I would shake a little.” She called the Prime Minister’s goal “based on a false premise,” arguing that diagnoses identify needs rather than create them. She is worried about the implications of having fewer diagnosed children as a goal, “If it means that we let people with ADHD and autism go without help, then that’s not a good idea,” she said.

Experts counter that the increase in diagnoses reflects societal progress, not a crisis. Søren Dalsgaard, a professor of child psychiatry, pointed to data showing identification leads to better outcomes. He explains how neurodivergent children’s distress rises until they are diagnosed, and then it falls. “It actually helps to get a diagnosis,” he told Woman and explained how a diagnosis enables the right treatment and accomodations for he child to thrive.

Following the backlash, Frederiksen has issued a written statement claiming that her aim was to prevent distress from developing into more severe conditions, not to cause insecurity for families.

The controversy unfolds amid a deep crisis in Denmark’s public schools, where special education programs have vanished after years of cost-cutting and special-needs students have been moved to standard classrooms with little or no support. With services disappearing, more children are identified as needing help even as support dwindles. A recent survey found that only 23 percent of Danes believe public schools will improve over the next two decades, while over a third expect conditions to worsen.

The regime’s anti-science stance aligns with a broader pattern of hostility toward disabled citizens. The regime recently announced plans to re-open thousands of disability benefit cases, motivated by the explicitly racist claim that “too many immigrants” were receiving benefits. Meanwhile, Matthias Tesfaye, the head of the Social Democrat-controlled Ministry of Education, recently mocked children with behavioral differences by labeling them “PDO”—a slur short for “piss-poorly raised.”

The recent attacks on neurodivergent children follows the pattern set by Denmark’s imperial overlords in Washington DC where the American Trump regime recently launched a campagn of demoization aginst neurodivergents, spearheaded by conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

For Danish families, the leader’s statements have introduced a new layer of fear. As experts note, a diagnosis is not a societal failure but a gateway to understanding. “Instead of trying to reduce the number of diagnoses,” argued professor Anne Thorup, “we need to figure out how to include those children who have different starting points.”

Sources:

• Eksperter reagerer efter Mette Frederiksens udtalelse: “Hvis jeg var forælder, ville jeg ryste lidt”, Woman (corporate media), November 7th 2025
• Danskerne taber tro på folkeskolen, Folkeskolen, November 12th 2025
• Mette Frederiksen: “Mit mål er at få nedbragt antallet af børn og unge, der får en diagnose”, Woman (corporate media), November 7th 2025