152. Asperger - music-free version
The Allusionist
Helen Zaltzman
4.7 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2022
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hans Asperger would have been merely "a footnote in the history of autism", so why did he get to be the eponym in Asperger's syndrome? Because along with the usual problems medical eponyms pose, and his work not really earning him the honour, he collaborated with Nazis and sent children to a hospital where they would be experimented on and even killed.
Activist, writer and academic Morénike Giwa Onaiwu discusses the stigma around terms like Asperger’s syndrome and autism, and historian Edith Sheffer talks about Hans Asperger and child psychiatry in Nazi Vienna.
Content notes: Nazis, eugenics, ableism, child abuse, murder.
There are two versions of this episode. The content is the same, but this version contains no background music, just speech; if you would prefer one with music, you can get it right next to where you obtained this one.
Find out more information about the topics in this episode at theallusionist.org/asperger, plus a transcript and the full dictionary entry for the randomly selected word.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the illusionist in which I, Helen Salzman, substitute language with aquafarba. |
| 0:06.3 | This episode is about some of the reasons why there's been a move away from using the term |
| 0:10.8 | Asperger's syndrome. We've talked before on the show about medical epilimms and how they |
| 0:15.6 | can be problems because, well, a lot of reasons, they don't tell you anything about the condition |
| 0:20.2 | with the name on, which can make it harder for medical practitioners to remember information |
| 0:23.9 | about it and is less understandable and often therefore more stressful for people being |
| 0:29.5 | diagnosed with it. The epilimms are sometimes not helping communication, but there's a |
| 0:34.5 | whole lot more going on with Asperger's syndrome as a term. Thus, I must issue several content |
| 0:40.0 | notes, Nazis, eugenics, ableism, child abuse, murder. There is some very grim stuff this |
| 0:47.1 | episode, you know, take what you know about Nazis and ableism and consider how bad that |
| 0:51.8 | can get combined. There are two versions of this episode. The content is the same, but |
| 0:56.7 | you're listening to a version with no background music. If you would prefer one with some background |
| 1:02.0 | music, you can get it right next to where you obtained this version. There is also a transcript |
| 1:06.9 | at theillusionist.org slash transcripts slash Asperger on with the show. |
| 1:14.0 | So how do you feel about the term autism spectrum disorder? I hate it. I hate it because |
| 1:20.3 | I feel like it's not a disorder. It is a spectrum, yeah, because it has many variations |
| 1:25.5 | and even autism is the name we've had historically. Not the greatest name because it means, you |
| 1:29.8 | know, in our of oneself because they of the way that they perceive us and we are, but |
| 1:34.3 | we're not. It's not what they think, but that's the name, you know, I'm not going to try |
| 1:38.4 | to come up with a new name at this late date, but the disorder part is bothersome to me. |
| 1:43.3 | Because my brain is not disordered. This is the way my brain works. This is the brain I |
| 1:48.1 | was born with. This is the way that I think it processes. That's not disordered. My |
... |
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