#asperger was a nazi

[changecomesforyou]

Hans Asperger if you weren't already dead i'd kill you all over again

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Anna Merlan at Mother Jones:

At an event late last week in Arizona, anti-vaccine activist and Donald Trump transition team member Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he’d fire and replace 600 people from the National Institutes of Health on “day one” of a second Trump term. The NIH is one of the public health agencies Kennedy loathes the most—and despite still lacking any defined role in a new administration, he’s clearly relishing the opportunity to promise retribution against them.  In comments that were first reported by ABC News, Kennedy declared, “We need to act fast, and we want to have those people in place on January 20, so that on January 21, 600 people are going to walk into offices at NIH and 600 people are going to leave.”  Kennedy, a long standing opponent of vaccines, has consistently been critical of the NIH, the Centers for Disease Control, and other federal agencies that are part of the basic infrastructure of public health. His The Real Anthony Fauci attacked Fauci, a former NIH director, at book length, albeit with what one physician reviewer called “many errors and gross misrepresentations.”

The remarks offering some concrete details about Kennedy’s Trump-aligned and so-called “Make America Healthy Again” agenda came during an onstage interview at an entrepreneurship event in Scottsdale, which included discussions of Kennedy’s workout routine and his relationship with the once and future president.

[...]

(Experts believe that autism was underdiagnosed until recent decades; the earliest prevalence weren’t conducted until the 1960s and ‘70s. Autistic adults have a range of abilities and autistic self-advocates have said that Kennedy uses offensive and ableist language to talk about autism: rather than “full blown,” public health experts would generally say “profound autism.” Kennedy also still uses the term “Aspergers,” an outdated phrase referencing a scientist who worked with Nazis during the Holocaust.)

This anti-public health bozo plans to fire 600 NIH workers.

[smoov-criminal]

unfriendly reminder that hans asperger was a literal nazi who decided that lsn autistics are the only ones who deserve to live. if you didn't know, now you do. if you did know and still call yourself an "aspie" go fuck yourself

[snakeautistic]

The issue with ‘Aspergers’ (aside from its Nazi associations) as a diagnostic label is that there is no way to effectively distinguish between it and so-called ‘high functioning autism.’ Even when it did exist as a label, whether or not you’d be classed as having mild autism or Aspergers syndrome was arbitrary, and depended on your assessor. Having an entire different name for something that boils down to ‘autistic but I don’t want to call it that because they seem too smart’ is not useful.

I do actually think there is some need to reintroduce more distinct subcategories under autism- the three level system is overly simplistic, and the supports needs within these groups varies wildly- but these subcategories need to be based on more distinct behavioral and neurological differences, which we unfortunately have not been able to properly sort out yet.

[cripplecharacters]

hi, i'm AUDHD myself and i've been trying to figure out if "high functioning" and "low functioning" are appropriate terms to use about autistic people?

i've heard that they're ableist because, well, to be honest it sounds ableist and very inappropriate. i might be wrong, but weren't the terms made by Hans Aspergers?

but then again i've heard/hear autistic people using there terms for *themselves* claiming they are correct terms and help them with their identity but it feels so wrong. maybe i'm misunderstanding? how could someone call another person "low functioning"?

Hello,

They're outdated. For a lot of people in the community, these terms are the ones they were diagnosed with and the ones they self-described with, so they keep using the terms even though new terms have emerged. Some people like these terms, some are neutral to them, some are only okay with them if autistic people are the ones using them like me, and some do not like these terms at all and may even consider them akin to slurs. Functioning labels are seen by many as ableist and dehumanizing, I would air on the side of caution and only use them if you're autistic to self-identify or to describe someone who uses those labels (I do know several people who use functioning labels because they're easier or familiar.)

As for Asperger's, you're right, it was named after a Nazi (Hans Asperger) who created the category for eugenics purposes. It used to be a diagnosis, though, and many people were diagnosed with it and might even still be diagnosed as that in their medical records. Some people are attached to this label because it's how they self-describe and are reclaiming it, but it understandably makes a lot of people very uncomfortable due to it being a label created explicitly for eugenics and due to it being a term coined by a Nazi. It's also named after Hans Asperger who created the divide between "useful" autistics, who could be in the Nazi forces, and "useless" autistics (as the Nazis called them, a "life unworthy of life,") who would be killed. This term is also based on an extremely outdated understanding of autism, which was the belief that autism is a disorder similar to schizophrenia and "psychopathy," which is no longer a valid diagnosis (never really should have been a valid diagnosis to begin with) and largely falls under the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, when autism is very much its own diagnosis and not part of or defined by schizophrenia or a personality construct. This idea is extremely outdated and has been scientifically proven to be incorrect, similar to female hysteria. This term is really not one someone should be using unless they are autistic and using it to describe themselves, and even then it's still a very loaded term.

(Asperger's is also still a valid diagnosis people are being diagnosed with to this day in other countries that use the ICD-10 rather than the DSMV-5 of the ICD-11. The DSM isn't the main diagnostic criteria in many countries and some countries haven't yet updated to the ICD-11, so make sure to research which text is used in the country your setting is in.)

The modern terms are autism spectrum disorder and support needs labels, which are generally no support needs, light support needs, medium support needs, high support needs, and very substantial support needs. There are also autism levels (levels one, two, and three, one being light or no support needs and three being high or very substantial support needs,) though not everyone likes those.

If someone uses terms that are, medically speaking, outdated when describing themselves, it's fine to use those words in reference to them. But don't force them on people who don't like them. And when writing an autistic character, it is best to use the most up-to-date knowledge possible unless the time of the setting prevents that, because the most up-to-date terms are the ones considered most medically accurate.

(And if your setting is before autism was created as a diagnosis in 1910 by Eugen Bleuler, here is a Wikipedia page that includes other terms used up until the World Health Organization in 1978. It might be best to avoid using the r-slur if at all possible. Lois Lowry in her book "The Silent Boy" did this rather elegantly in her description of an autistic character who lived long before the autism diagnosis was a thing, in which he was referred to as "touched," meaning "touched in the head," or "touched by God," rather than as the r slur. Try to avoid using the r slur, I cannot stress this enough.)

Mod Aaron

[transmascpetewentz]

hey so. can we all agree to stop saying "asperger's syndrome".

the arguments have been made already for why the term is offensive to autistic people as a general whole, so i'm not going to repeat them here. what i want to focus on is the less talked about issue with the fact that we as a community still use this word.

there is literally no excuse for any person, but especially jewish & romani people, to have their medical condition named after a fucking nazi who tried to genocide their ancestors. ZERO.

and before i get a ton of people in the replies trying to make excuses, let me pre-emptively answer the most common replies i know i'm going to get.

"ohhhh no but it's sooooo hard for me to switch my language, it's only been ten years since the dsm five came out!!!!!"

boo hoo, it's hard for you to use a different word after over ten years of the dsm five removing asperger's as a diagnosis. it must be soooo much more difficult to give a single shit about jews and roma than the experiences of jews and roma who went through a genocide and are still facing violence to this day /s

"but i'm an aspie and i get to reclaim that word if i want!!!!!"

yeah, the term asperger's syndrome is offensive both to autistic people who fall under the criteria and to autistic people that don't. but do you know who else that term is offensive to? the people who went through a genocide. unless you are jewish or romani i don't want to hear it.

"but i was diagnosed with asperger's syndrome before the dsm five came out!!!!!"

see the above two points about how not continuing to glorify genocide is more important than keeping the same words we've always used for things. it's fine to say you were diagnosed with asperger's, but you do not have "asperger's", you have autism (or are autistic if that's the language you prefer).

"but i didn't know that asperger was a nazi!!!"

well, now you do.

"but naming a medical condition after someone doesn't necessarily glorify them!!!!"

would you apply this logic to literally any other field of science? if we decided to name an element after a nazi, people would rightfully be angry. people have been calling for years to rename a beetle named after a nazi. if you name a medical condition after someone, that generally means one of two things: the person was a very important and good researcher in the field, or the person was a notable person who had the medical condition. this might be a hot take, but i don't think that a nazi scientist working for the nazis should ever be considered the best and most important early researcher in any field to be deserving of having a discovery named after them.

"but you can't speak for all jews!!! look, you aren't even jewish yet, it says that on your profile!!!!"

no, i cannot speak for all jews. but i am speaking for myself when i say that all of your (general) excuses have stopped working, and that y'all need to put others' needs above your feelings sometimes. during the writing of this post, i spoke to other jews who have made posts about this before, but y'all continue to ignore jewish voices and make excuses for yourselves when it really isn't that hard to just stop saying a word.

"you're being ableist by telling me, an autistic person, how i can and cannot identify!!!!!"

i'm writing this post as someone who is autistic and would have been diagnosed with "asperger's syndrome" had i gotten my diagnosis before the dsm five came out. being autistic is no excuse for being racist, antisemitic, or any other bigotry. autistic non-jews have continuously spoken over autistic jews on many issues, including this one, and guys, it is not that hard to care about jews and roma enough to make this tiny change to your vocabulary.

i hope all of this has been enough to ward off some of the responses that i'm going to get to this post. i'm willing to engage in good faith if you're genuinely ignorant or confused, but if you have read this post, you no longer get to say that you "didn't know" that hans asperger was a nazi and that we shouldn't name any medical condition, but especially one that many jews and roma have, after people who committed genocide.

[m0thmachine]

One thing I hate about Elon Musk is that this has unironically led to a certain type of liberal (or even just annoying fellow leftists) insisting that Hitler was autistic. I’ve seen people reacting to the Nazi salute with “well the guy he’s emulating also had Asperger’s.” Autism is just going the NPD/“narcissist” route again I guess

[mousegirlheart]

if you try to say i have aspergers that means im allowed to hit you with a pillowcase full of soap bars.

im autistic. stop saying i have the fucking nazi disorder. they removed it from the dsm years ago for a reason.

[ndcultureis]

warning: invalidating talk/venting/cussing

nd culture is when all of the identities you have are done in the "wrong way" (mostly because of tiktok culture)

omg you're a therian too?!! i feel so connected to animals, im still a human though! im not *crazy* haha. what? you're a wolf in "every way"? you should be locked up.

omg you're autistic? me too!! i love little spoons!! what do you mean you have a hard time understanding other people and cant make friends, you're just a psychopath, stay away from me.

omg you're trans? me too!! i hate my body so much i want to die! ill never be a real boy! wdym that you dont feel dysphoria 24/7, you're not actually trans. wdym that you love your body and that you already have a male body. you cant be agender and a boy. you just want to feel special. it/its pronouns? ok now i know that you're just rage baiting.

omg you're pan? me too! wait you feel lesbian attraction to women diamoric attraction to nonbinary people and gay attraction to men? you're delusional, thats not real. lesbian means woman loving woman not queer attraction to women.

omg you have adhd? me too! i get distracted sooooo easily!!!! i can never sit still, lol im so quirky. emotional disregulation? rejection sensitivity? you're just a crybaby, grow up!

these are the same types of people who say that you need to "be yourself!" and that being weird is sooo cool. but the moment someone is fundamentally different then you're a freak.

even people who work in mental healthcare have said stuff like this to me..

yeah i know this kid with asper- what? asperger's was made by a nazi? well guess what, i dont care. its still a valid diagnoses.

i hate all men. wait what? you're a boy? i dont care, i either dont see you as a boy or i do and hate you too.

that is so delulu. wait what? delulu is a slur? wdym, you're just too sensitive.

these are the same people who tell me to "love myself more"

(sorry i kinda went off track, you dont have to post this, i just needed to get it off my chest.)

.

[anonpolls]

Hans Asperger was also a nazi collaborater who sent autistic children he considered less worthwhile to clinics where he knew they would be murdered, since he believed in racial hygiene. many ppl don't want to wear the "worthy of living, high functioning autism" label

Yes I have now read up on this and am so glad I did. Thank you!

[inner-memoirs]

Why do people always feel the need to augment their statements to downplay someone's autism?

What I mean are phrases like:

"They're slightly autistic" (you either are or you aren't)

or

"They have Asperger's, not autism" (they are the same thing, and Asperger's isn't even a recognized diagnosis anymore)

Of course, that was a rhetorical question. I know why people downplay someone's autism diagnosis. Because autism is a "terrible, no good, very bad thing, and if you have to be attached to it, you may as well be as far away from the root of it as possible".

For decades, fear mongering campaigns that were incredibly ableist and misinformative portrayed autism as though it were a fate worse than death to be diagnosed with. To have autism was to be doomed. Oh, except for those Autistic people, the "acceptable" ones, who are actually super genius savants that just happen to be a bit rude and socially oblivious. You're either one or the other, no in between. (fun fact, Nazis played a big part in this. Look up where the name "Asperger's" actually comes from)

This has caused countless pervasive stereotypes and negative stigmas around autism that Autistic advocates are still working hard to dismantle.

For those who don't already know, trying to distance someone from their autism isn't the compliment that you think it is.

Autism is genetic. It's from birth. It isn't caused by vaccines, or taking ibuprofen while you're pregnant, or 5G radiation. It isn't something that can be cured or removed from a person, because the person is Autistic. It's a different way of thinking and experiencing the world; a different kind of brain. If it were even theoretically possible to "remove" autism (which it isn't, barring death) they would not be the same person they once were.

When I hear someone distance somebody else from their autism, I hear that they think disability is something to be ashamed of. I hear that they wish that person wasn't Autistic. I hear that they wish that person wasn't themselves, because who they are is a "bad thing".

[noyabrina]

recent events just made me remember how much ppl excusing bigotry from autistic people makes me want to scream. there ought to be more discussions about how there are very much incredibly reactionary autistic people who are this way not because they absorb everything like a sponge but are very much aware of their own interests. just look at the many autistic people who say they're "aspergers" (named after a nazi doctor btw), "savants", "high-functioning" etc to signal they're one of the good ones to appeal to a deeply ableist society