When historian Edith Sheffer arrived at the Vienna archives to learn more about Dr. Hans Asperger, a pediatrician credited with identifying and defining autism in the 1940s, she was excited to learn about the scientist. Her son had been diagnosed with Asperger’s when he was 17 months old.

But Sheffer did not find what she expected. “Literally, the very first file I found on my very first day was his district party file that testified to his involvement in the racial hygiene measures of the Third Reich,” she told me.

While Asperger was never a member of the Nazi Party, Sheffer discovered that he played a critical role in identifying children with disabilities and sending dozens to Spiegelgrund, a children’s ward in Vienna where adolescents were euthanized or subjected to experimentation. Her research culminated in her new book, Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna.

…continue reading ‘The Disturbing History of Dr. Asperger and the Movement to Reframe the Syndrome’

Image: By Figure 1.1 (page 8) of: Frith U (1991). “Asperger and his syndrome”. In Frith U. Autism and Asperger syndrome. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–36. ISBN 0-521-38608-X. The source’s caption says the photograph is “From the collection of Dr Maria Asperger-Felder”. The book is copyright 1991 by Cambridge University Press., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22643496

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