Step Away from the Asperger’s Designation

When We Know Better, We Do Better

“As the Nazi regime slaughtered millions across Europe during WWII, it sorted people according to race, religion, behavior, and physical condition for either treatment or elimination. Nazi psychiatrists targeted children with different kinds of minds―especially those thought to lack social skills―claiming the Reich had no place for them. Asperger and his colleagues endeavored to mold certain “autistic” children into productive citizens, while transferring others they deemed untreatable to Spiegelgrund, one of the Reich’s deadliest child-killing centers.” http://www.aspergerschildren.com/

Before my autism diagnosis 3 years ago (and before I started suspecting I might be autistic 4 years ago), I truly didn’t give a lot of thought to autism. I think that’s understandable. Though I’ve struggled with profound depression and anxiety since early childhood, I didn’t ever think those might be because I have a neurodivergent brain and therefore don’t fare well in neurotypical society.

And over all those decades when I didn’t know I was autistic, if I heard that someone had Asperger’s syndrome, I’d think “oh, they have the good kind of autism.” I’m not proud of that, but it’s true — and I think that’s probably pretty common.