Hans Asperger, an Austrian doctor, who did groundbreaking research in the developmental disorder autism, and also had the disease Asperger’s syndrome named after him, had a “heroic” reputation for his contributions until now. However, new research by historians has revealed that the doctor was involved in a Nazi program, and was responsible for killing disabled […]
Wondering what to read this summer? Don’t worry, PW’s editors have you covered. In their staff picks, you’ll find a killer Appalachian thriller, Michael Ondaatje’s amazing latest novel, a sprawling biography of Bruce Lee, and many more. Asperger’s Children made the list! Happy reading!
LINDA MOTTRAM: Well, there’ve been huge advances in the understanding of autism but the story of what was separately named Asperger’s syndrome has an unsettling past. The syndrome was named after the war-time Vienna-based, paediatrician, Dr Hans Asperger, and a cloud has long hung over his sympathies. The World Health Organization recently folded Asperger’s syndrome […]
His medical assessment was grim. The child, not yet 3, showed signs of mental and physical impairment after an illness that caused inflammation in the brain, he said. “Severe personality disorder,” Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger wrote in a diagnostic report in summer 1941. “Most severe motoric retardation; erethic idiocy; seizures.” An old black-and-white photo showed the small girl, […]
The Austrian doctor Hans Asperger cooperated extensively with the Nazi regime and may have sent dozens of children to their deaths. Horrific details of his involvement were revealed yesterday in the journal Molecular Autism and will be detailed in a forthcoming book called Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna. Asperger was among the first researchers to describe […]
The Austrian doctor Hans Asperger cooperated extensively with the Nazi regime and may have sent dozens of children to their deaths. Horrific details of his involvement were revealed yesterday in the journal Molecular Autism and will be detailed in a forthcoming book called “Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna.” Asperger was among the first researchers to […]