Published on 12, July, 2020
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.”
It does appear that Asperger's "more expansive model" of autism as a wide spectrum has gained acceptance since around 1990 (largely due to the work of Simon Baron-Cohen et al.) and it also appears that most work in the field recognises this now - whether or not Asperger himself is credited with it.
While it's unfair that he doesn't / didn't receive the credit (whatever the reasons) it's inexcusable that so many people have gone un-diagnosed because of it. We're seeing the results of this now with so many adults being diagnosed later in life having gone through life without the support or understanding that might have helped more when they were younger. It's also accepted that this 'new' way of approaching autism as such a wide-ranging spectrum is responsible for what appears to be such a rise in autism's prevalence since around 1990. (Better late than never?)
With this 'new' acceptance of the 'spectrum' encompassing such a varied range of 'things', it seems ridiculous that the term 'Asperger's' is being phased out of the latest diagnostic manuals. 'Asperger's' seems to more accurately distinguish the set of parameters under which a person is diagnosed, just like Anorexia which is being considered for inclusion on the same spectrum. Will Anorexia eventually lose it's name too, to be absorbed into the autism spectrum? Won't absorbing all of these, and others, into one make it more difficult to see where anyone sits on the spectrum? I haven't yet read the new diagnostic manual but, personally, I can identify with 'Asperger's' more easily than with 'High-functioning autism'.
The official history is that ASD was discovered independently by Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger, and Leo Kanner had no knowledge of Hans Asperger and his work.
Steve Silberman has carried out research which proves that Leo Kanner had plenty of knowledge of Hans Asperger and his work but for some reason deliberately kept quiet about it.