December 2024: “Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna” by Edith Sheffer

Dec 1

Book Blurb

Hans Asperger, namesake of the now decommissioned diagnostic criteria Asperger’s Syndrome, was a leading contributor in the research of “autistic psychopathy” in Nazi Vienna. After the Second World War, Hans Asperger continued his work in Austria on understanding the causes of the neurological disability that would become known as Autism Spectrum Disorder, gaining a reputation of compassionate advocacy for children with disabilities. But a review of the historical records reveal a version of reality very different from what Hans Asperger lead others to believe.

In Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna, Edit Sheffer paints a vivid picture of the horrific treatment of children with autism living under the Third Reich. Throughout the 12 years of the Third Reich, Nazi policies segregated people on the basis of race, religion, behavior, and physical condition. Those on the favorable sides of that segregation were selected for treatment and granted the right to live. Those on the unfavorable sides of that segregation were cruelly eliminated. And many times, it was Hans Asperger himself complicit in their murders.

Discussion Questions

In Asperger’s Children, Edith Sheffer lays out the stark contradictions between what Hans Asperger would become known for in the United States and the horrifying reality of his actions in Nazi-lead Germany. How should the dark history of scientific and medical research be discussed when acknowledging its role in modern-day diagnostic criteria?
Asperger’s Syndrome was included as a diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-4), published in 1994, but removed from the DSM’s fifth edition (DSM-5) published in 2013. This change was due to greater understandings of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) leading experts to recognize that “Asperger’s Syndrome” was apart of the ASD spectrum. Understandings of a disorder aside, what vetting process should exist when naming a diagnosis after a person?

Click on the book cover image to see what people are saying about Asperger’s Children on Goodreads. My review of Asperger’s Children will be published in the Non-Fiction bookshelf on 27 December 2024.

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