Instead, we might have realised much earlier that autism is not a single entity, but a cluster of conditions. “Hans Asperger prevented the sterilisation of autistic children by those looking to extinguish ‘weak’ genes” Silberman uses the two men to make a provocative argument: had we not used Kanner’s “thin” definition of autism for so long, the autism “epidemic” that began when the definition was widened in the 1980s would not have occurred, and we would not have spent so much energy looking for environmental causes or pointing the finger at blameless parents. This notion was widely received and much to blame for the long history of stigma and shame that became firmly attached to the condition. Meanwhile, US psychiatrist Leo Kanner was simultaneously defining the condition as one that affected only young children, and was caused by cold-hearted “refrigerator parents”.
He also gave the impression that autism was a rare condition associated with young genius, while revealing in papers translated decades later that he knew this was far from the truth. By focusing on the positives and hiding the negatives, Asperger prevented their forced sterilisation by those looking to extinguish society’s “weak” genes.
0 kommentar(er)
