How autistics were treated in past decades and centuries?

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Autism has always existed, but the knowledge about this disorder is very recent. As they were seen in the past?

I apologise for my English, but I'm not a native speaker.

Depends on the culture. Probably seen as possessed in some, revered in others.

One historical tidbit about how autistics/Aspergians were treated in past decades: Popular opinion holds that the Nazis only declared Jews were not a part of the Aryan race, and thus their ideology in 1930s Germany. Hitler and Co. sent not only the Children of Israel to the concentration camps, but also gays, lesbians, and of course, autistics/aspergians as well.

I'm doubtful of people with Asperger syndrome being sent to concentration camps specifically because they had such because Asperger syndrome wasn't officially documented until after WW2. So the treatment of autistic people in the Holocaust is definitely a grey area.

TBH I think the negative treatment of aspise has arosed ever since the Industrial revolution when being strongly social, etc was conceived as "normal". Before, the treatment was incredibly mixed and blurred, and was revered in some ways but considered possession in others.

IMO aspies were seen as eccentric and odd and weird and they made it through life. Back then anyone could work and you didn't really need social skills to have a job. Anyone was hired. Now today people have gotten less trusting so there are background checks, cover letters, references, and you do need social skills these days to get employment because if you have no one, then you are screwed. Even people with intellectual impairments had jobs back in the days and now they don't. It's harder for them to be employed now. I doubt aspies were left in institutions and hospitals. They were just seen as odd or weird and eccentric and absent minded. I am sure they were seen as trouble makers in school and got hit a lot or didn't go to school back when education wasn't mandatory for kids. I don't think they were as disabled back then as they are today because of what's changed in society.


I imagined people who were more severely on the spectrum were institutionalized because that is what they did back in the days. It was taboo keeping a special needs kid at home. Parents would just put them there and live on with their lives like that kid didn't even exist and they were forgotten. It also wouldn't surprise me if they were left alone in fields to die way way way back then. That is what people did with their babies if they had something wrong with them or were acting differently.

This is my own theory on it: they were either forced to act like everyone else and if they didn't they would've been seen as demon possesed or ret*d or something. There are still people who think of autistics that way.

I think as far as the mild autism - mild Asperger and mild HFA end of the Spectrum they were just presumed to be a bit weird and perhaps a bit stupid. I recall my first dealing with a psychologist back in 1974 when I was but 19 years-old. It became clear to me that he thought I was not very bright as he was suggesting that I really shouldn't be planning to go to college. He made a couple other little hints that made it clear that he thought I was below normal intelligence. Why on earth would he think that? Well, back at that age I didn't make eye contact and I had about as much social grace as the main character in the movie, "Adam." I was also quite clumsy and unsure of myself. So, he just jumped to the conclusion that I wasn't very smart - asshxle.

As far as the more severe levels of autism - If we go to the distant past - or among extremist religious circles in the not so distant past - I'm sure many autistic people were thought to be demon possessed - especially if they were the sort prone toward meltdowns. I even recall someone in the 70's who was of the Pentecostal religion taking their child to have demons cast out of her because she was having constant temper tantrums. Could she have just been somewhat autistic and was experiencing meltdowns? I don't know - But, it certainly is possible.

If we get to the classic level of autism - where a person is visibly different to any bystander - I suspect until quite recently - and no doubt many uninformed bystanders would still think this - They would simply presume the person to be either psychotic or ret*d.

It depends

"High functioning" autistics, if they struggled in school, were probably considered stupid or lazy. Sensory issues were probably laughed off as being a wuse. Stimming was probably considered deviant behavior and punished, leading to more meltdowns, which were of course also punished. Some might've been considered demon-posessed or mentally ill

"low functioning" autistics were probably considered demon-posessed, mentally ill, or just unintelligent. In the middle ages, they may possibly have been jesters.

Monks might have been an ideal job for some autistics because of strict routines, social isolation, etc.

For the 60's and 70's when I grew up.:

Just because we did not have an autism label does not mean we were not labeled
If you were rich or did well, "eccentric", "different"
A person with high IQ but un or underemployed" "failed to meet expectations","failure in life" lazy, weak, does not have what it takes
For introverted aspies, Loner, painfully shy, quiet type
for extroverted aspies: rude, a**hole, has an attitude, uppity, thinks he is gods gift to earth, thinks his s**t don't stink
In general: weird, awkward,odd or oddball, outcast of society, Dweeb, loser, book smart but not street smart,
Lower functioning: ret*d, Mental defective, mental cripple, not human (some things don't change)

Common misdiagnosis depression, schizophrenic, deaf, mute for women hysteria

In school we were bullied. It was considered a "right of passage", "boys being boys" . It may or may not have been you fault if you were bullied, but your failure to respond was your fault because you were weak, a "scaredy cat". It left most of us with anything from low self confidence issues to PTSD.

As far as work you, if you survived the school years you could probably not get a leadership position but you could earn enough to have a comfortable living. It was not expected that Accountants or Janitors would need social skills

Adults living a home was a rarity, so if you had average to high IQ but you were un or underployed at a certain point you were thrown into the street with the hope it would toughen you up. If not, that's life

For those more obvious they were institutionalized, thrown away, or hidden locked up in a room. It was considered a shame on the family, so is was kept quiet. If people screaming in another house the police were not called because it was considered a completely private matter.

Low functioning autism was considered mental illness in the early 1900s. Diagnosis didn't really exist, instead, they were just thrown in the looney bin to rot out their lives all while being abused.

Most people with disabilities were excluded from most stuff if not burned at the stake in centuries past.
They were also sterilized in the U.S. by most states until the 1940s, against their will to prevent them from passing it on.

Aspies faired better.

Many of the best Roman Emperors are believed to have suffered from AS due to their social and intellectual behaviors.

Charles the IX (or is it XI) of Sweden built a massive empire then went crazy and lost it.
He is now considered to have a classic case of AS.

Martin Luther, the man who launched protestant reformation is believed to have had AS, though he was brought down by schizophrenia a few years later.

Though those with AS have faired much better in the U.S.

John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison (author of the U.S. constitution)
Possibly George Washington and Alexander Hamilton
Are all believed to have had AS based on all the records of their social behavior.

I mean no normal person would have dared to fight the British Empire...

J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atomic bomb) is the smartest person ever born in the U.S. and fits the definition of AS dead on.

Same goes for Einstein.

Someone made a list a few years ago based on research.

Like they are treated in present-day France.

"Autism in France" topic

It depends on the culture, and on the severity of their traits/symptoms. Some had great careers, and others ended up in asylums.