A Rabbi-psychologist’s take on Hans Asperger

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As said in the piece he was enthusiastic enough that the Nazi’s vetted and cleared him. He worked under and in the same office as one of the top Nazi psychiatrists.

A brief supplement to the history given by the rabbi. The diagnosis of Asperger syndrome was proposed by British psychologist Uta Frith in 1981. By the early 90s Fred Volkmer the Yale psychologist was on the DSM IV committee looking to add the diagnoses, a couple of Jewish psychologists did object. Dr. Volkmer did ask around including Dr. Frith. He found no evidence of Nazi ties and the diagnoses was added. The term “Aspie” was believed to be coined by Liane Holliday Willey in 1999 for the purpose of breaking stigmas and making the condition a positive.

Over time the idea that Asperger was a hero, working with the Nazi’s to secretly help autistics gained traction. His use of “little professor” and statements such “a little dash of autism” is essential for success in the science and arts was cited as proof that he was our ally. As mentioned in the piece in 2010 a historian of Nazi medicine Herwig Czech presenting his findings of Asperger’s Nazi complicity to a conference. That information never made it out to the western world. In 2015 a gay Jew Steve Silberman published “Neurotribes”. He did uncover that Asperger worked for a top Nazi and said negative things about Autistics and concluded that the Asperger did not believe in them but just said them to to ingrain himself with the Nazis. In 2016 “In a Different Key: The Story of Autism” was published by ABC News journalists John Donvan and Carol Zucker. The book’s chapter on Hans Asperger contained information supplied by Czech and concluded Asperger was complicit. Because the book came from a more parent point of view then ‘Neurotribes’ and Czech was not making the information widely public the ND advocates here and elsewhere widely concluded ‘In a Different Key’ was a hit piece by Autism “warrior parents”, like the then recent elimination of Aspergers syndrome, another attempt to paint Aspies/ high functioning autistics as whiney brats, not real autistics. In the spring of 2018 Herwig Czech released his sourcing in a Molecular Journal article. At almost the same time Edith Scheffer a historian of 20th century Germany published her book ‘Asperger’s Children: The Story of Autism in Nazi Vienna’ which also concluded Asperger was complicit. Both publications said that while possible they found no hard evidence that Asperger saved any Autistic people. Both publications concluded that Asperger while not a rabid Nazi ideologue went along with to get along to advance his career.

It is important to note that despite numerous claims otherwise especially in twitterverse the elimination of the Aspergers diagnosis had nothing to do whatsoever with the revelations about Asperger because they had not happened yet.

In 2014 there were calls here on WP to what would become known a few years later as ‘canceling’ Hans Asperger. “Ass burgers” was being used as a way to bully Aspies online, the experts had just the year prior said Aspergers was not a thing, and it was said over and over that anybody who said they were an aspie was doing it to separate themselves from low functioning autistics. At times there were three or four simultaneous ‘cancel’ Aspergers threads going on. I found it both depressing and infuriating for a number of reasons, most importantly because I felt it was the moral equivalent of slandering the good name of a disability advocate hero. When ‘In A Different Key’ came out I was confused, I did not want to be a useful idiot for a campaign to bring back the old severe definition of autism, as a Jew I did not want to lionize somebody who was complicit. I decided to keep my ‘Aspie’ identity until such time as further evidence arrived.

When a couple of years ago that evidence did arrive I had become very opposed to cancel culture but this was not about a “racist” joke said years ago but complicity with actual Nazis. It is one thing to oppose the order when the consequences are cyberbullying or loss of job, it is quite another when it means prison, torture or death. I can’t honestly say in a Nazi situation I would willingly be a hero who would most likely would be immediately be forgotten. I suspect most people who are the loudest yelling cancel would be good Germans in 1933-1945.

So what about the terms “Aspergers” and “Aspies”? The two historians disagree, Czech is for keeping Aspergers as a medical term, Sheffer for canceling it. But as the Rabbi said it is up to us on the spectrum to decide. I eliminated my Aspie identity when the proof came in. If I am going to use an identity based on a person that person better be a
extraordinarily good. Hans Asperger was not that person. It was easier for me than for some because I also identified as autistic.

I am not about to cancel him from autism history nor from mine. Without his work being discovered it is very possible most of us would not be diagnosed and this site would not be here. My diagnosis and its aftermath has been an important positive factor in my history. This occurred under the Aspergers diagnosis and the aspie identity. I have no desire to erase that part of my history. The difference now is that it is my part of my history not my present. As far using the terms if the thread is about Aspergers or aspies I will use those terms. I read enough people trying to tell people on the spectrum to call themselves “person with autism” to ever want to language police how others on the spectrum self identify.

I'm perfectly happy with the term Asperger's. He did a lot of immensely valuable research into how we think and operate, and paved the way for the specialists who would come after him, such as Lorna Wing, Baron Cohen and Dr Tony Attwood.

Hans Asperger is history since 40 years already as well as anything he did. Even if you dislike the guy why changing an established name? I'm against anything like this. People who own a brain should be able to deal with facts instead of glorify or damn people. AS is a different thing than autism even that a couple of traits may be common for both. It's the same like that black people won't become white once you stop to call them negros today. It won't change the way they are as well as people with AS won't change nor disappear if Asperger's becomes ignored and lumped together with other forms of autism. The only thing that happens is that people with AS will be less likely find any help that really fits their condition. To me it doesn't makes any sense to change well established terms in common language for hypocritical political correctness reasons.
It makes more sense to fight people who are as much into hypocritical political correctness sh*t that they even have a problem with common language and terms that most people have no real problems with.

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