after elon's SNL monologue I'm seeing a lot of people talking about asperger's and I think it's important for neurotypical people to know the history behind this term and why it's no longer being used as a diagnosis (thread) https://twitter.com/BeffernieBlack/status/1391307475568271360

I'm not necessarily saying it's wrong to like the label for yourself bc I know some people do and I don't think it's my place to dictate that, but I think it's important for neurotypical people to be careful with their language here

under the DSM-5, people who would have been diagnosed with asperger's are diagnosed with ASD. this is important because asperger's was essentially invented by neurotypical people to neatly separate a very specific "higher functioning" set of behaviors from other types of autism

it's now understood that autism is a much broader spectrum that isn't just a straight line from "low functioning" to "high functioning." it encompasses a very large variety of combinations of traits and can't be easily classified into categories

and also yeah, Asperger was a nazi who, while not the inventor of the term as a diagnosis, used this rigid classification to determine which children were and were not worthy of life

it's also worth mentioning that people with autism generally don't want to be "cured" of it. such research is usually seen as harmful and often goes hand-in-hand with eliminating behaviors associated w/ autism and forcing autistic people to act neurotypical which can be traumatic

that's why it's upsetting that arguably the most famous autistic person right now has a history of promoting these ideas

anyway if any autistic people read this thread and have anything to add or any corrections to make, please do so. I hope this was accurate and thorough enough to educate someone out there