{"id":85,"date":"2021-08-11T14:34:53","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T19:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/?p=85"},"modified":"2021-08-25T11:07:42","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T16:07:42","slug":"having-aspergers-doesnt-make-you-a-nazi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/11\/having-aspergers-doesnt-make-you-a-nazi\/","title":{"rendered":"Having Asperger’s Doesn’t Make You a Nazi"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Over the past thirty years or so I have had occasion to be asked to make various contributions to the cause of autism. Some of them I am more proud of than others. Some of them I talk about more than others. Some of them I was paid for more than others. All of them contributed to where we are now with the disorder. Unfortunately this includes a certain movement in the cause, and for that please believe me when I tell you I am deeply sorry. I am working on a post about that. I will post it here if I can ever get it to the place where I am happy with it. I am not sure I can.\u00a0 Even if the movement was not my fault.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
That is a story for another day. Today I want to talk specifically about Autism and Asperger\u2019s Syndrome.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Something I don\u2019t mention often (because to me it wasn\u2019t all that monumental, not until now anyway) is many years ago I contributed to defining the difference between these two things and to the understanding of what those differences are. Outside of royalties for SWCTL<\/a>, I was paid more for this than I have been for anything else I have ever done in autism. The check I received for those services ran well into the thousands for just a few days of work. I am not sure I deserved it, but I am thankful it was given to me.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
So having been there and having been a part of that, let me just say this.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
There is no difference.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The problem of course is it doesn\u2019t end there. That would be too easy and as we all know, nothing in autism is ever easy. So you can say there is no difference, and that would be the truth, but that doesn\u2019t mean there really is no difference.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Indeed there is a difference between Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. They are not the same thing. One example I can give you (and I remember this because the discussion was fascinating) is the motor skills of the person with Asperger\u2019s function a little differently than those of the person with autism.\u00a0 (And of course there is that whole obvious language development thing.)

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Now it is important here to note that the keyword in the previous sentence is \u201ca little.\u201d Yes those motor skills differences are there, but they are subtle. Very<\/em> subtle. Unless you are involved with autism to the extent that people like me are (and yeah that includes a lot of you reading this), there is no difference at all. That is how minuscule the difference in those motor skills are. The same goes for all the other differences as well. They exist, but that\u2019s it. They really don\u2019t mean anything other than a pathway to a clear diagnosis. Once that diagnosis is made, to any average anyone on the street they may as well have level 1 autism because that\u2019s how similar they are to the average layman.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
I bring this up because all of this has apparently changed. I am seeing that now there are much bigger differences between the two and no one can possibly consider them the same thing anymore.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
When we discussed it that day, when we defined the differences, it was the day after Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died. You will recall that goes back to 1994. (Meaning we discussed it starting on May 20th of that year, to be exact.) Things do change over the course of time as more information becomes available. Asperger\u2019s has changed as well. Because now, in the year of our Lord 2021, if you are diagnosed with Asperger\u2019s Syndrome, you are automatically given, along with the various symptoms of autism, the extremist and supremacist ideology of the Aryan Nation. Or, to put it another way, if you have Asperger\u2019s Syndrome then you are a pro-eugenics ableist nazi. Except for one thing. You aren\u2019t. Not really. Not even close.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
There are a lot of people out there on the net claiming if you say you have Asperger\u2019s, you are also a pro-eugenics ableist nazi. They were not there in the room that day. I was. And as someone who was there, I am telling you those people are not speaking truth. Further, I state here, now, hand on my heart, for the record, in writing, in front of you, and before God and everybody, that I would absolutely be willing to swear to this – under oath – in a court of law. I stand ready at any time should it ever become necessary. That\u2019s how certain I am of this. So help me God.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The word \u201cpro-eugenics\u201d was never uttered once in those discussions. The word \u201cableist\u201d was never uttered once in those discussions. And the word \u201cnazi\u201d was most assuredly never uttered once in those discussions. What they are telling you simply is not truthful. It is misinformation.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
But all of this does lead to one obvious question. If being diagnosed with Asperger\u2019s doesn\u2019t mean you are a pro-eugenics ableist nazi, then what exactly does it mean? Well, I am glad you asked. Because I can answer that.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
What it means is once upon a time, a valid, licensed, qualified diagnostician diagnosed you with Asperger\u2019s Syndrome and are now considered to have level 1 autism.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
And that\u2019s it. That\u2019s all it means. Nothing else.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
You are not pro-eugenics. You are not ableist. You are not a nazi. What you are is an individual who experiences certain neurological anomalies beyond the norm in such a way that classified you at one time as a person carrying the diagnosis of Asperger\u2019s Syndrome.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Again, that\u2019s it. Nothing else. No nazi. You do not need to click your heels. I promise.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
So if, once upon a time as in above, someone diagnosed you with Asperger\u2019s Syndrome, it is okay to say so. You are not telling people you are a nazi, what you are doing is telling people you were once diagnosed with Asperger\u2019s Syndrome. If this did happen to you, all you are guilty of when you tell us is speaking the truth.

<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Speaking the truth is nothing to be ashamed of, no matter what those people tell you.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past thirty years or so I have had occasion to be asked to make various contributions to the cause of autism. Some of them I am more proud of than others. Some of them I talk about more … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-actually-autistic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomasamckean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}