Asperger's Children

Asperger's Children

Adult nonfiction
"...These efforts include 'positive' as well as 'negative'
eugenics. The former meant promoting the health and reproduction of
segments of the population that were desired; the latter meant
reducing the number of people who were not, either by disccouraging
reproduction, withholding services, or more extreme measures. Both
impulses were present in 1920's Vienna."
Like probably most people, I hadn't really heard of autism,
Aspergers, or any kind of spectrum before the 1990s. Then it was all
front page news with the percentages of kids being diagnosed
jumping--1in 150, 1in 100, I in 68--from year to year.
So what the hell was going on? Was this diagnostic boom being
fueled by professionals picking up on clues they hadn't noticed
before? Or were more neurodivergent children being born? Could
something like environmental toxins be altering brains in utero or
shortly after birth?
In Asperger's Children Edith Sheffer gives us a third
possibility. Diagnoses may not be independent of the values and
beliefs of the societies in which they were conceived, particularly
during authoritarian regimes when government edicts and beliefs
intrude on every facet of life. Aspergers became recognized as
neurodivergenve in Nazi Vienna.
Hitler believed he could curate a perfect Aryan race by
eliminating all who did not belong. We all know about the killing of
Jewish people. He also went after gypsies, homosexuals, people with
disabilities...basically anyone the Nazis didn't see as productive
enough for their new regime.
One of the prime Nazi values was putting a lockstep collective
identity over an individual one. Children incapable of this were not
wanted. "...One had to feel and behave as part of the collective,
with social feeling, a condition of biosocial belonging both racially
and socially. After all, fascist collectivism lay at the core of the
Nationalist Socialist projects."
Asperger's Children traces the evolution of Asperger's thoughts
and decisions as the Third Reich became increasingly entrenched in
Austria. Although he never became a Nazi, he bought into their
beliefs and practices. In a very short span of time he went from
seeing his patients as individuals with strengths to believing most of
them to be incapable of integration into society, sending dozens to an
institution that openly practiced child euthanasia.
Asperger's Children is sobering and chilling--a warning of what
can happen when science becomes politicized. We're far from out of
the woods. I wonder how many fewer people would have died of COVID if
the responses to it hadn't been so politicized.
On a purrrsonal note, I did my class presentation and it went really
well. I got 100% on it. All semester I haven't lost one point on my
homework. Class participation counts too. No worries. That is one
of my strengths. I don't have any finals. So all I have is five days
of work before I'm out for winter break. (Jules)
Woo hoo! My Jules staying at home with me! A big pretty tree in the
living room. And the big SC is making the nice and naughty lists.
You know which one I'll be on. Christmas is for sure the happiest
time of the year! (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Amber Gray for making what could be
a rather tedious subject (the role of the law in higher education)
really come to life and my classmates for sharing their insights
thoughtfully and candidly along with best wishes for a wonderful
holiday season and refreshing winter break.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


Sent from my iPod