Questions on Autism Labels

[HenleyMae]

I was diagnosed almost two years ago with autism spectrum disorder and the psychiatrist explained it as "what once would have been called Asperger's syndrome." And at first, it seemed simpler to explain to people as Asperger's.

Then I started doing research into where the name "Asperger's" originated. In case you weren't aware, the diagnosis originated with Hans Asperger, an Austrian doctor who was living during the events of World War II. Asperger gained a position at a hospital after all the Jewish doctors were removed. He continued to rise in power, again, because of the removal of Jewish doctors. He was a member of Nationalist party and part of anti-Semitic groups.

He began identifying children with certain similar characteristics, such as trouble reading others' emotions and creating connections. As the Nazi extermination of anyone they deemed inferior continued, he began working at a center deciding whether children with these characteristics were mild enough cases that they could be made useful to society or worthless. He decided whether these children got to live or if they should be dealt with in the manner the Nazis dealt with people they saw as inferior. He chose whether children got to live or die.

I've been getting really, really mad about all this. Why should a Nazi murderer's name be the title given to the very people he aided in executing? It disgusts me that a term I thought was helping me to understand myself harkens back to this disgusting person. I tend to be a bit obsessive about things, and this has just been stuck in my head. I wanted to get some thoughts from other people. Am I overreacting to this? Is this just something to be viewed from the lens of "it was a different time?" I just want my diagnosis and yours not to be something so degrading.

 

[Lysholm]

I thought the Nazi connection was common knowledge.

It's not wrong for you to have strong reaction to this. But, countless things we enjoy today were discovered by or named after monsters. The Asperger thing is pretty small potatoes, but it is why no one in the community uses it anymore.

 

[Outdated]

The world is what it is. There is little point in trying to rationalise the past, it was what it was and nothing will ever change that.

Today you have a choice. If you wish you can reject people that wish us to return to that sort of past, or you can join them, or you can be anyone in between. That is entirely up to you.

From a very wise man:
"Don't go dreaming in the realms of What If, you can get lost in there. You play with the cards you've been dealt."

 

[The Pandector]

I was diagnosed almost two years ago with autism spectrum disorder and the psychiatrist explained it as "what once would have been called Asperger's syndrome." And at first, it seemed simpler to explain to people as Asperger's.

Then I started doing research into where the name "Asperger's" originated. In case you weren't aware, the diagnosis originated with Hans Asperger, an Austrian doctor who was living during the events of World War II. Asperger gained a position at a hospital after all the Jewish doctors were removed. He continued to rise in power, again, because of the removal of Jewish doctors. He was a member of Nationalist party and part of anti-Semitic groups.

He began identifying children with certain similar characteristics, such as trouble reading others' emotions and creating connections. As the Nazi extermination of anyone they deemed inferior continued, he began working at a center deciding whether children with these characteristics were mild enough cases that they could be made useful to society or worthless. He decided whether these children got to live or if they should be dealt with in the manner the Nazis dealt with people they saw as inferior. He chose whether children got to live or die.

I've been getting really, really mad about all this. Why should a Nazi murderer's name be the title given to the very people he aided in executing? It disgusts me that a term I thought was helping me to understand myself harkens back to this disgusting person. I tend to be a bit obsessive about things, and this has just been stuck in my head. I wanted to get some thoughts from other people. Am I overreacting to this? Is this just something to be viewed from the lens of "it was a different time?" I just want my diagnosis and yours not to be something so degrading.

Heck of a guy, right?

I don’t like ‘autistic’ either; I thoroughly resent being summed up with a single adjective. Especially one that literally means I am ‘self’ish, because I am not.

I now identify as an autist, which rhymes with artist. I create my own living art, and no longer need anyone else to confirm that. Don’t care if it sounds self-important; I like that it’s accurate. Labels are often crutches for lazy thinking, and I thank the Lord I wasn’t born a lazy thinker.

 

[Crossbreed]

Asperger was a controversial figure, but autism experts Lorna Wing & Tony Attwood have been among his defenders, refuting his willing collaboration with the Nazis. Asperger's own daughter believed that he had [ASD1], himself.

 

[Rodafina]

It disgusts me that a term I thought was helping me to understand myself harkens back to this disgusting person

It would be very sad if your dislike for this term got in the way of continuing to understand yourself better. Many people who are part of categorizations they do not like reclaim their autonomy… Call yourself whatever you want. You do not have to accept this term to continue to learn about autism and how it affects you and how to go through life happily.

 

[autism-and-autotune]

I was diagnosed almost two years ago with autism spectrum disorder and the psychiatrist explained it as "what once would have been called Asperger's syndrome." And at first, it seemed simpler to explain to people as Asperger's.

Then I started doing research into where the name "Asperger's" originated. In case you weren't aware, the diagnosis originated with Hans Asperger, an Austrian doctor who was living during the events of World War II. Asperger gained a position at a hospital after all the Jewish doctors were removed. He continued to rise in power, again, because of the removal of Jewish doctors. He was a member of Nationalist party and part of anti-Semitic groups.

He began identifying children with certain similar characteristics, such as trouble reading others' emotions and creating connections. As the Nazi extermination of anyone they deemed inferior continued, he began working at a center deciding whether children with these characteristics were mild enough cases that they could be made useful to society or worthless. He decided whether these children got to live or if they should be dealt with in the manner the Nazis dealt with people they saw as inferior. He chose whether children got to live or die.

I've been getting really, really mad about all this. Why should a Nazi murderer's name be the title given to the very people he aided in executing? It disgusts me that a term I thought was helping me to understand myself harkens back to this disgusting person. I tend to be a bit obsessive about things, and this has just been stuck in my head. I wanted to get some thoughts from other people. Am I overreacting to this? Is this just something to be viewed from the lens of "it was a different time?" I just want my diagnosis and yours not to be something so degrading.

I understand your anger here; it's completely rational.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I hope nobody here supports Volkswagen. Volkswagen

I hope nobody here supports Bayer medicine. Bayer

I am saying this with a bit of sarcasm here. We cannot simply "cancel" people based upon todays social morals, and without context and perspective, especially if you are living in a country that is non-authoritarian. The Third Reich, people forget this, "They didn't give you a choice." I take that back, your two choices were "comply" or "die". Yes, Hans Asperger had to comply or die. He was not a Nazi. He had to comply with the Nazi government though. Did he save many lives? Yes. Did he send some to their death? Yes. It's a crappy situation to be in where you have to choose who lives and who dies. Does it make him complicit with some Nazi rules? Yes, but the alternative would have been he gets the doors busted down by the SS military, he dies, likely his family also dies, and ALL the children he oversaw would have died.

Was Hans Asperger an anti-semite? Probably. Then again, who wasn't prior to the 1990's, seriously. Any of you, talk to your grandparents, your parents. We had derogatory language for every possible religion, every possible country, every possible skin color of people. It was just open language and we never thought anything of it. People were openly anti-Semitic, racist, however you want to classify it. Children's joke books that I bought at the elementary school book sale were full of racist jokes. Now, having said that, as children, we hadn't learned to "hate". We were still too young to understand that perspective. That was in 1960s-1980s midwestern, wholesome, United States. Can you imagine 1930s Germany?

Also keep in mind, the Third Reich only wanted educated folks to work for them. Any other educated folks, regardless of whether or not they were Jewish or of an alternate political party were killed. They had book burnings in the streets. They were not interested in any kind of "resistance" or anyone that was going to "question". Keep the populous relatively uneducated, subject them to massive amounts of propaganda, and keep the order with a military. Many educated people saw what was happening and fled the country early. Albert Einstein was one.

I don't see Hans Asperger as a hero or a villain, but rather as someone put into a "no win" situation.

Put things into context and perspective.

 

[Forest Cat]

I hope nobody here supports Volkswagen. Volkswagen

I hope nobody here supports Bayer medicine. Bayer

I am saying this with a bit of sarcasm here. We cannot simply "cancel" people based upon todays social morals, and without context and perspective, especially if you are living in a country that is non-authoritarian. The Third Reich, people forget this, "They didn't give you a choice." I take that back, your two choices were "comply" or "die". Yes, Hans Asperger had to comply or die.

My grandparents had to invite nazis into their livingroom and make dinner for them many times. And then sit there with them as they ate. Because when armed nazis arrive at your home and demand you give them food, it's a little difficult to say no. They lived right on the border to Sweden, that area was crawling with German soldiers trying to control the border, so for a long time they invited themselves into peoples homes to get food and information. It was a different time, it's easy to say now "how could people work with nazis". Well, you could get shot instead. So I guess they had a choice. But my grandmother did have a hiding place for the good food and when she saw them coming up the road she pulled out the old, bad and horrible food and gave them that.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

My dad was taken off the street by the Germans as a teenager and forced to labour had a rough time I married a woman of German descent eight generations in Canada History is what it is political correctness is not going to correct or fix history. Does not stop me from listening to Wagner on occasion.

 

[tree]

https://www.autismforums.com/thread...he-term-aspergers-syndrome.40616/#post-880243
https://www.autismforums.com/threads/trigger-warning-who-was-hans-asperger.37322/#post-872121Additional links in Post #2 of this thread.