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CW: ableism, Holocaust mention
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There are many good reasons to banish Asperger’s to the graveyard of dead diagnoses
But the big one is that Hans Asperger’s research on autism was based on Nazi science & served as justification for the Third Reich’s eugenics program
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There are many good reasons to banish Asperger’s to the graveyard of dead diagnoses
But the big one is that Hans Asperger’s research on autism was based on Nazi science & served as justification for the Third Reich’s eugenics program
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Asperger stole the work of a pair of Jewish psychiatrists (Frankl & Weiss), who had been researching for decades but who were forced to flee Austria in the 1930s
Cherrypicking from their work, Asperger formulated his own conclusions
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Cherrypicking from their work, Asperger formulated his own conclusions
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Asperger almost entirely attributed malice to his child patients’ behaviour, ignoring factors like family violence, poverty and war
Children who demonstrated aptitude for math and science were selected for therapy
Many others were sent to am Spiegelgrund for “treatment”
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Children who demonstrated aptitude for math and science were selected for therapy
Many others were sent to am Spiegelgrund for “treatment”
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In accordance with other branches of Nazi science and medicine, Asperger’s clinical notes and writings reveal he was a good Nazi psychiatrist, eager to make a name for himself in the practice run for the Holocaust that he helped facilitate
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Asperger was the opposite of a benevolent figure for neurodivergent children in the Third Reich
He was am Spiegelgrund’s Josef Mengele
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Source: Asperger’s Children by Edith Sheffer, 2018 (Norton) https://wwnorton.com/books/Aspergers-Children
#ActuallyAutistic
He was am Spiegelgrund’s Josef Mengele
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Source: Asperger’s Children by Edith Sheffer, 2018 (Norton) https://wwnorton.com/books/Aspergers-Children
#ActuallyAutistic
Oh, and the children Asperger selected bc of their STEM aptitude were spared extermination only because their special skills were considered valuable to the Reich’s goal of domination via science (eugenics, space program etc)
