The Term "Asperger's"

Asperger's Syndrome has been a controversial term in the autism world for a while now. Because of this controversy it's being phased out slowly from the medical diagnosis model of autism, and therefore eventually from the autistic community as a whole. Before I was diagnosed just 10 months ago (exactly 10 months today, in fact) I identified and self-diagnosed as an aspie. The reason for this is because I was still quite early into my journey of learning about the world of autism that I'd unknowingly been a part of for over 31 years prior to diagnosis. And it was also because although I'd heard of the disturbing truth about Hans Asperger which I'll get onto shortly, I tend to avoid big and heavy topics like that so I didn't look into it much until recently.

I considered myself to be a person with Asperger's Syndrome due to the misconception that Asperger's is essentially "high-functioning autism" and as far as I could tell I didn't have any particular sensory needs or atypical thought processes, and in social terms I must have been able to pass for neurotypical otherwise surely I'd have been been diagnosed a lot younger than 31, right? I always struggled with my social skills (or lack thereof) and found it hard to make friends and build relationships when my peers always seemed to do it naturally and effortlessly. I always felt different because of that but I always just put it down to being shy. In reality, functioning and grading labels such as "high/low functioning" or "severe/mild" autism are inaccurate. The bottom line is that if you're autistic you're autistic. Functioning labels only serve to express how other people experience your autism. So if you're like me and slipped under the radar until well into adulthood you'd be classed by most of society as high functioning when in fact you're no more or less autistic than somebody who might have severe (read: noticeable) sensory difficulties or someone who is unable to live independently. There are no different levels of autism, it's just that everybody is different so their autism will manifest in different ways - some more externally obvious than others. It's this increase in understanding of how functioning labels are irrelevant that initially lead to Asperger's being phased out. When I was finally diagnosed in December the diagnosis given to me was the umbrella term of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and it was briefly explained to me about Asperger's and functioning labels being no longer used.

Now this is where it gets a bit heavy as we start to look at the other - possibly more urgent - reason for Asperger's being faded out. Asperger's Syndrome was named after the Austrian doctor Hans Asperger who was closely involved with autism in children during the 1930's and 40's. I want to first state that it's undeniable that without some of the work that Asperger did we wouldn't have the diagnostic criteria that we have today, and as a knock-on effect we most likely wouldn't have the understanding and acceptance of autism that we have today. That's not to say that society's understanding and acceptance of autism is anywhere near where it needs to be, but it certainly would be a lot worse without Asperger's work. With that said, there is a very, very dark side to the work he did. It was brought to light in a report early last year by Herwig Czech of Vienna's Medical University that Hans Asperger was heavily involved in the Nazi regime. While on the surface he maintained an image of a hero and saviour to many autistic and disabled children, it turned out that underneath this image was a horrible and vile supporter of the Nazi's eugenics program meaning that he strove to create a genetically uniform society eliminating perceived weakness and disability. Asperger was responsible for sending children into a euthanasia program who were deemed unfit to live or who were considered a burden. These children were the ones who weren't seen as valuable enough to train and recruit as soldiers into the Nazi regime.

Presumably, his public image of being a saviour to autistic kids comes partly from him working closely with the ones he kept alive. Their recruitment must have been presented in a way that made it look like he was giving them purpose and a place in life, when in fact it was those individuals who appeared to be lacking in things like empathy or emotion, and those who were easily controlled who were the ones recruited - their qualities theoretically making them perfect soldiers. They were obviously used by the Nazis for their own gains and with no concern over whether these autistics were killed during the war effort.

So that's briefly the dark history of Hans Asperger and the origin of his Syndrome. This post is not to say that identifying as an aspie is wrong in any way. In fact far from it. Although Asperger's Syndrome is a phrase that's considered to be tainted by many people, at the end of the day it's down to each individual as to whether they identify as Aspergic (if that's even a word?) or not. There is no right or wrong answer and a lot of people who were diagnosed with Asperger's would prefer to stick by the diagnosis given to them, whereas a lot of others have most likely stopped identifying that way and started identifying as autistc. Realistically there is no difference as I discussed earlier. Some may choose to see the positives in Asperger's work that lead us to where we are today, and others may choose to see the negatives in his Nazi affiliation. I guess it's the dilemma of separating the art from the artist. A bit like after the Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland aired on Channel 4, it left lots of people pondering whether it's still ok to listen to Michael's music because at the end of the day he was a brilliant musician despite the horrible things he did behind closed doors. It's definitely a grey area but it's all down to personal perspective and preference, and the purpose of me writing this is to provide information so that you can all make your own minds up.

I hope this post has been informative and interesting for you. Please make sure to hit the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page to keep up to date with all my posts. Equally, make sure to follow me on Twitter @DepictDave for more content.

[Image description: Black and white photo of Hans Asperger sat at a desk with papers in front of him. He appears to be explaining something, indicated by his hand gesture where they're held out slightly in front of his face.]