If you’re following the whole Hans Asperger debacle:
You can find that article here. It provides a detailed look at the matter. This piece, as well as Steve Silberman & Maxfield Sparrow’s Tweet responses, add important nuance and autistic voices to the discussion.
Maxfield Sparrow talks about the impact of this news about Asperger, giving advice to fellow autists/aspies, and asks the question “Why was the first printing of “NeuroTribes” so kind to Asperger?”.
Silberman’s reply to that is extensive. Still, it is important to know for anybody telling others to just “read NeuroTribes”. Part of it reads:
“The reason I didn’t attempt to overturn that consensus was that I didn’t have access to the data in Sheffer’s book and Czech’s paper, which they deserve credit for uncovering. It was widely believed that Asperger’s case files had been destroyed during the war, but Czech found them in a municipal archive in Vienna. That’s where a lot of this new information is coming from.”
Through no fault on Silberman’s part, he did not have access to the full information. And Silberman states that Hertig Czech did not give him the same information about Asperger as he gave the author of “In A Different Key”. Czech had refused to provide the details that came out in that book because “he wanted to first publish the information under his own name”. Which is messed up, in my humble opinion. Later in the article, Edith Sheffer is displayed as having misrepresented Lorna Wing’s attitude to the term “Asperger’s” during her book’s epilogue. It goes to show what a grey area all this research and publishment can be. Everybody appears to have a bias (Silberman included) and this affects their speech. To gain a clear view, all talkers must be examined.
Maxfield Sparrow also makes a valid point here:
“One good thing that came out of reading Sheffer’s book was that it brought me a step closer to understanding and embracing Autistic Pride. I struggle with being okay about being Autistic and often Autistic Pride seems just a bridge too far. But seeing more clearly that we have always faced the barriers we face today has stirred some pride in being part of a people who survive against the odds. Seeing non-compliance pathologized by Nazi doctors makes me proud to belong to a people who resist oppression. And realizing that so much of what passes for therapy and accommodation today would be wholeheartedly embraced by Nazi doctors reminds me that the monsters who killed Autistic children 80 years ago were also human beings with families and friends and loving relationships. It reminds me that otherwise good people today could also be monsters.”
Honestly, I encourage you to read the whole piece, even though it’s lengthy. Don’t leave this at the quotes I picked out as they cannot give the entire picture. It must be viewed fully. Because then you can form your own opinion on the article fairly.
Maxfield Sparrow and Steve Silberman have a reciprocative discussion, both asking and answering questions, delving much deeper into it than “Hans Asperger isn’t the problem!” vs “Hans Asperger is the Devil!”
Their conclusions:
“[Maxfield Sparrow:] When the chips are down, I will always join with my neurotribe. So I want to officially state that, while I still don’t personally want to be called an Aspie, I am ready to fight on behalf of my Autistic siblings who do connect with that identity—not as a euphemism for high functioning, but as a cultural marker of their understanding of themselves and the world we live in. No, you cannot take away the identity of thousands of Autistics! Asperger had deep flaws, but the identity that has grown around his name is valid and the people who identify with Asperger’s have the right to decide for themselves whether to keep his name or not.
Steve Silberman: I agree. I think autistic people should be leading the response to this new information and determining what happens to the phrase Asperger’s syndrome. One of the best things that could come out of this is a wake-up call, because concepts like eugenics reassert themselves in every historical era—whether it’s Nazis talking about “life unworthy of life,” geneticists in Iceland talking about “eradicating” Down syndrome through selective abortion, a presidential candidate mocking a disabled reporter from the podium while bragging about his “good genes,” or autism charities framing autism as an economic burden on society. Resisting institutionalized violence requires perpetual vigilance.”
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