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Okay, fuck it, let& #39;s get into a thing.
There are a LOT of very valid critiques to have of Elon Musk on SNL, but let& #39;s dig into the idea that Musk was being a nazi sympathising eugenicist for saying he has Asperger& #39;s Syndrome.
There are a LOT of very valid critiques to have of Elon Musk on SNL, but let& #39;s dig into the idea that Musk was being a nazi sympathising eugenicist for saying he has Asperger& #39;s Syndrome.
So, a quick history lesson, super condensed.
Asperger& #39;s Syndrome is a diagnosis that was cooked up by a Nazi, and has its roots in some shitty ideas about the "high functioning vs low functioning" autism divide.
It has a shitty history, but is an official diagnosis people get.
Asperger& #39;s Syndrome is a diagnosis that was cooked up by a Nazi, and has its roots in some shitty ideas about the "high functioning vs low functioning" autism divide.
It has a shitty history, but is an official diagnosis people get.
In the UK and US, Asperger& #39;s Syndrome is being phased out as a diagnosis in favour of Autism Spectrum Disorder, basically in recognition that Asperger& #39;s and Autism were never different conditions, just different areas of a complex spectrum.
But it is still diagnosed sometimes.
But it is still diagnosed sometimes.
People self IDing as having Aspergers if that& #39;s what they were diagnosed with has a tricky history. I should know, I was diagnosed with Aspergers in the years leading up to the community pushing for the diagnostic changes.
When I was first diagnosed with Aspergers, that term was super helpful for understanding what diagnostic criteria I met, what help might be available for me, and finding other people like myself.
Back then if I tried to say I was autistic I got pretty heavily gatekept by people whose official on paper diagnosis was Autism. They used to basically say that I had "aspergers", I wasn& #39;t "actually autistic", and that to use the term autistic was actively misrepresenting myself.
So for many years, during the switch over towards Autism Spectrum Disorder, I was actively worried that I wasn& #39;t allowed to say I was autistic, for fear of accusations I was overblowing my condition.
I was diagnosed with Aspergers, so that& #39;s what I told people I had.
I was diagnosed with Aspergers, so that& #39;s what I told people I had.
Now, I have eventually moved to using Autistic, or autism spectrum disorder, but that came with unpacking a lot of beliefs that I wasn& #39;t allowed to do so. It wasn& #39;t easy. Asperger& #39;s was a term that I associated with my coming to understand what made me different from my peers.
So yeah, let& #39;s be critical of Musk for a lot of things, but also, can we not do this whole "anyone who says they have aspergers is a nazi eugenicist sympathiser" routine.
