‘Asperger syndrome’ (often shortened to Asperger’s) is no longer used as a diagnostic term for autism and is considered controversial due to the history of Hans Asperger, which is summarised below.
Historically, Asperger syndrome was used as a diagnostic term for some autistic people who did not also have a diagnosis of a learning disability. Broadly, it is now agreed that what was referred to as Asperger syndrome is part of the autism spectrum and there is no need for a separate term.
Some people who received a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome continue to use this terminology to refer to themselves. Others do not, usually for two reasons: because the term is no longer used officially; and because of revelations about the Austrian psychiatrist Hans Asperger, who Asperger syndrome was named after and who was complicit with the Nazis.
The history of Asperger and Asperger syndrome
The term ‘Asperger syndrome’ was introduced to the field of autism research in the 1980s by the British psychiatrist Dr Lorna Wing, a cofounder of the National Autistic Society and a consultant to the NAS Lorna Wing Centre until her death in 2014. Dr Wing pioneered the idea that autism is a spectrum condition and did so with reference to Hans Asperger’s much earlier work, which noted marked differences between autistic children.
While the concept of autism being a spectrum condition is considered important and useful today, explicit reliance on Hans Asperger’s work is now controversial. Hans Asperger worked with the Nazis during the Holocaust and his abhorrent descriptions of some autistic children as being less ‘worthwhile’ than others led to dozens of children being sent to a Nazi clinic, where they were murdered.
There had previously been debate about how much Hans Asperger knew about what the Nazis were doing, and whether in fact his work had saved some autistic children from death. However, more recent research has discredited this narrative by showing that Hans Asperger was aware that he was sending children to their death at a Nazi ‘euthanasia’ clinic and had made statements in line with the Nazi regime’s murderous ideology of ‘racial purity’.
Read more on the history of Hans Asperger
Asperger syndrome as a diagnostic term
Asperger syndrome became an official diagnostic term in 1992 with its inclusion in the 10th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD10), and in the 1994 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-4) in America. The diagnosis was retired in the next editions of these publications, the DSM-5 in 2013 and the ICD11 in 2019, when it was folded into the diagnosis of ‘autism spectrum disorder’.
As a result of these changes, Asperger syndrome should no longer be given as a diagnosis. However, some people continue to describe themselves using this terminology, usually because their diagnosis forms an important part of their identity in a way that is not connected to official diagnostic terminology or its historical context. People who have identified with a diagnosis of Asperger’s throughout their life may find the revelations about Hans Asperger upsetting.
