Rewriting Autism History

What does the NAS make of this discovery by Steve Silberman about Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger?

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/08/autism-history-aspergers-kanner-psychiatry/398903/

Not only does it cast serious doubt on the notion that Kanner’s discovery was completely independent of Asperger. Of perhaps greater importance, it may help resuscitate the reputation of Asperger—a man whose prescient ideas were long ignored.

Other theories as to why Kanner shunned Asperger’s work are less persuasive. Some historians have believed that Asperger’s work was unknown to Kanner because of the language barrier. But German was Kanner’s native language. Not only that, Kanner was keenly familiar with Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, the neurological journal that published Asperger’s papers, and referenced it many times in his work.

It’s possible that Kanner, as a Jew, found it objectionable that Asperger—through no fault of his own—was working for *** who had taken over his clinic. It could be that Kanner thought Asperger himself was a Nazi, though Silberman argues persuasively he was not.

Once you consider the implications of such buried history, the scope of the tragedy is almost crushing.

But the damage done by Kanner, intentionally or otherwise, is inescapable. For far too long he perpetuated ideas about autistic children that were simply not true. And for too long no one was the wiser. “By burying Asperger in history, Kanner obscured the breadth and diversity of the spectrum,” said Silberman. This, in turn, meant “many children who would have been eligible for a diagnosis under Asperger’s more expansive model of autism were left to struggle along on their own in a world not made for them.”

  • I'm really sorry to hear about your son's situation. It's tough when there's no funding for adult diagnosis, but it's great that you've taken steps to address his gambling addiction.

  • The special school I went to was in 1972.  At that time autism was virtually unheard of in the general population.

    And all these SENs and EHCP were unknown.

    Education was compulsory and if we refused to go to a school we got sent to other schools.

    As far as I know, there was no exhaustive testing like there is now.

    We just got sent from school to school until we agreed to attend.

    That special school was actually enjoyable and peaceful.  In later years I started to question how it was run and what actually went on in there.

    No.  Academic teaching.  Before I went there I was behind other children academically.  When I left I was even further behind.

    Some children were there longer than me.  And I saw no improvement in them. One girl of my age was always sitting under tables or hiding behind a large old wooden bookcase.  Not engaging with anyone in anyway. When I left a year later she was still behaving the same way.

  • AS was generally viewed as a behavioural problem in the 1980s by schools and educational psychologists. They did not tick the boxes for autism back then and as they tended to be of average or above average ability in literacy and numeracy then they were deemed not to have learning difficulties. An erroneous belief circulated that children could only have SEN if they were below average in literacy and numeracy.

    The result is that AS was concluded to be something to be sorted out using harsh discipline as it was believed that children with AS either did not know right from wrong or did know right from wrong and chose to do wrong.

    I mentioned how Jewish power and influence in the post-war years could have been responsible for suppressing Hans Asperger, but could he (and people with AS) also have been a victim of Protestant Christian values of discipline that run high in both the US and Britain even amongst people who are not religious? Remember that Austria was a largely Catholic country when Hans Asperger carried out his research.

  • I do love your stories Robert. Here’s a change in direction. I’m just thinking about friendships and I think I’m coming to the conclusion, that I don’t want them. I’m ok when I’m around them but then I wish they’d just disappear. I don’t know why they contact you. I think I’m going to stick with the friends I have on here, the friends at my autistic group (so long as they keep it to the group) and friends that I meet while at a group, such as a walking group or whatever. I think I’m happy by myself. 

    Your old school sounds like a nice place to be. 

  • It's interesting how a thread develops and changes direction.  Now we are onto mental hospitals and residential schools for autistics.

    The nearest I came was a year in a 'special' school when I was 9/10.  This was not residential, just normal school hours 9 till around 4pm.  However no teaching took place and looking back I suspect half the children were autistic.  There was no violence and I found it to be a peaceful place of refuge.  Away from the awful so called normal children.  The long police interview I had makes me suspect that sex abuse did take place.

  • Some of them, maybe all of them were terrible places and we haven’t moved too far forward in support for people with AS but we’re moving in the right direction. 

  • Mental hospitals were unsuitable and inappropriate places for people with AS. They could not provide the support and services that they require.

  • Yeah, along with the closure of long term mental health hospitals with the introduction of ‘care in the community’, a great idea in theory but as a cost cutting excercise it was never going to work and not only that it put a lot of people in danger and in terrible situations. They’re still trying to sort that out! 

  • Attitudes have changed in society since the 1950s but the closure of residential schools was Maggie Thatcher's cost cutting. Local authorities had become increasingly reluctant to pay the fees to send children with SEN or disabilities to residential schools by the end of the 1980s due to changes in legislation on how they can spend money.

  • We’ve come a long way, in a relatively short amount of time,  from when disabled people were hidden away and people with mental health problems were seen as a form of amusement. 

    We’ve got a long way to go and the more we talk about it the more awareness there will be. 

  • An unproven theory I have is that they were victims of an overreaching post-war welfare state. 

    In the 1920s and 30s parents and families were responsible for looking after disabled children and children with SEN. Attitudes changed in the 1950s amongst those in power and amongst large sections of society that parents shouldn't be burdened with having to provide for disabled children and children with SEN. The welfare state should provide education and care services for them instead. Parents have the right to go out to work and live a normal life without having to look after problem children. Therefore what happened was large numbers of boarding schools were opened for disabled children and children with SEN. They started closing down in the 1980s as a result of government cost cutting and the scaling back of the post-war welfare state under the Thatcher government as local authorities were less and less inclined to send children to them. Attitudes also changed towards families supporting their children and inclusion in mainstream schools.

    There was also a belief amongst those in power and large sections of society that problem children at school was the result of bad parenting or parents who failed in their duty to bring up kids properly. Therefore the solution wasn't SEN schools, different teaching, or a different curriculum. It was residential schools.

  • It makes me sad to think of all the children who were sent away. I remember a little boy in my son's school, about 20 years ago, who had gained a reputation for being a 'naughty' and getting out of control boy, and his mum as some kind of lazy unintelligent worthless piece of *** who was to blame for her son's behaviour. They wanted to send him away, but she took him off school dinners, changed his diet and his behaviour changed. 

    They say the playground can be a cruel place but the mothers were pure evil in their behaviours and treatments of some mothers and their kids. 

  • I have some NAS publications from the 1970s and 80s somewhere at home. Almost nothing in them applies to me because they are entirely about Kanner autism. Therefore anybody with AS at the time would not have been considered autistic so would have been outside of the territory of the NAS.

    Information about the number of children with undiagnosed AS who were sent away to unsuitable residential or reform schools is scant. I have read the book A Childhood Not Easily Forgotten: a History of Abuse by Lee Woolcott Ellis who attended two residential schools from the age of 6 to 16 during the 1970s. There is no mention of ASD, and it appears he attended the schools because of family problems, but I have almost no information about the schools themselves apart from them being at the centre of child abuse and sex offences cases in recent years, nor any information whether or not there was anybody with ASD there. One of the schools near Ipswich is now a classy restaurant.

  • My best friend at primary school, got sent away to a ‘special’ school in our first year of school. It could have been him, me or both of us but for some reason they targeted him and sent him away. I have never forgot him, and I’m sure wherever they sent him, it wasn’t the right or best place for him. I’m guessing he was undiagnosed autistic like me, so I doubt back then he would have got the right support. I’d love to track him down. 

  • It's not just children of the 1960s. Definitely children of the 1980s (Lorna Wing's paper was virtually secret knowledge back then) and even children of the 1990s - I didn't find out about AS until after 2000 despite having a statement of SEN at primary school.

    I have been wondering how many children and teenagers with undiagnosed AS were sent away to unsuitable residential schools for EBD or other behavioural problems - that more often than not caused more harm than good - because knowledge of AS was suppressed. Does the NAS have more info about this? There is now a concept of boarding school syndrome in adults.

    It's interesting to note that the political left in Britain have been very quiet about Hans Asperger and I can't help thinking that they overwhelmingly view him as a Nazi collaborator who deserves to be vilified. The people I have encountered who are most favourable towards Hans Asperger are overwhelmingly centre right in their outlook and don't go round screaming Nazi at people like SWP and some Momentum types do.

  • Kanner was also a fascinating man and did much to improve the lives of many people. I know his refrigerator mother theory was alarming but it was in keeping with the theory/understand of that time. 

    If Asperger’s work was recognised earlier Tom, we may have got a diagnosis as kids but that’s not to say we would have got appropriate or any support all that was actually helpful. However, at least we would have known that there was nothing ‘wrong’ with us and I’m quite sure my life would have panned out very differently. I have had to come to terms with this, as I think many of us late diagnoses have. I allowed myself to grieve and wonder what my life might have been like, which I think is important, especially to be able to move on from it. It’s a big deal so it’s important we don’t down play it. 

  • I found it an excellent read in audiobook form! Lots I didn't know, including the fascinating details of Asperger's work before and during the war.

  • I need to look at it again, because I was reading it piecemeal first time and I wasn't taking a lot of it in - but there are large chapters devoted to the work of Kanner and Asperger, and it covers precisely this issue and the factors surrounding it.

    Can't help but wonder, if Asperger's work hadn't been suppressed, whether there would have been a lot more knowledge around during my childhood in the sixties.  A lot of people might have been saved a lot of grief and suffering.

  • Oh I think I’ve heard about ‘neurotribes’, I’ll check it out although  my reading skills are not currently at their best so it might be something for another day. 

  • The article is more than 2 years old. 

    The article was written in 2015. Has the NAS read it yet or have they been spending their time chasing local authorities for money for residential care services instead?

    IMO it is the greatest milestone in the development of ASD since the discovery of Hans Asperger's work itself.

    There are questions about exactly why didn't Leo Kanner go the whole hog and plagiarise the work of Hans Asperger. Did other people in his circles know about Hans Asperger and force him to keep quiet about it for some reason or other?

    I will have to read Neurotribes because it could contain more information about this period of history.