There is plenty of blame to go around in this story.
The mom foreknew what the girl was capable of, but she selfishly flew anyway.
The airline attendant acted stupidly to be so inflexible and not not even SELL a hot meal to defuse a mental health issue.
The airline captain may have overreacted by making an emergency landing, even though the immediate problem had been defused. Some passengers may have missed connecting flights as a result.
The amount of ignorance about autism displayed on this thread is amazing. “Autism” covers a spectrum of mental disorders ranging from mild to severe. It is real and yet no one really knows the causes. Those autism deniers are ignorant, but they are truly blessed they haven’t had to deal with it themselves.
I don’t see the issue as autism. I see the issue as a mother looking for attention.