Born in 1906 and living for 74 years, Hans Asperger accomplished a lot in his life and changed the world of psychology forever through his work.
Before I drop my opinion on the quality of his work and the overall impact it has had, I would like to first take a broader look at his life’s work on the whole.
Childhood
Born on a farm in Vienna Austria, Hans Asperger was raised with two brothers. From the very beginning it was apparent that Hans was unique among his peers, often acting in ways that seemed to separate him from the group.
These actions included quoting himself, talking about himself in third person, and quoting the poetry of Franz Grillparzer to his friends and acquaintances.
In his younger years, Hans also joined a Catholic group under the German Youth Movement known as the Wandering Scholars of the Bund Neuland. Hans was molded heavily by his experiences within this group, as he adamantly claimed on multiple occasions.
Adult Life
Hans attended the University of Vienna, earning his medical degree in 1931 at the age of 25. Immediately after graduating, Hans began working with the special education division at his university’s children’s clinic.
Hans married in 1935 and had five children in all.
When World War II was reaching a close, Hans opened a school for children, but it was bombed shortly afterward, resulting in a large amount of Hans’ early work being lost.
Published works
In 1944, Hans Asperger published a definition of Autistic Psychopathy. In this, Hans identified a perceived pattern that those with autism lacked empathy, had difficulty forming lasting relationships, held an ability to have complete focus on a narrow field of subjects, persistently dominated conversations, and regularly had clumsy movements.
Hans also noticed that some autistic children used that intense focus on a single subject with great success in adult life.
Recognition after death
Hans received most of his recognition after he passed in 1980.
Firstly, Asperger’s Syndrome as a diagnosis was formally recognized in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in 1994 and was quite obviously named after Hans Asperger. All of this only to be removed in one of the following editions of the DSM in 2013, due to the diagnosis of Asperger’s being deemed too similar to other forms of Autism to continue existing as a separate diagnosis.
As someone with Asperger’s… here is my opinion on the man Hans Asperger
The way I see Hans Asperger is conflicted at best.
First off, there is the simple fact that Hans Asperger made steps that I deem necessary to understanding how autism and Asperger’s works on the whole. And though his ideas of autism were very primitive and inaccurate, they still eventually led to the much more comprehensive and accurate understanding we have now. (Though there is still a lot of work to be done)
On the other hand, he got a lot wrong in his assessment of Asperger’s and autism
Considering all the facts I am aware of combined with personal experience, I would say Hans’ work was more damaging than it was anything else. It can be argued that he helped make progress in the understanding of autism in general, but I honestly believe that a great many people could have done a better job pioneering autism just by having a little empathy.
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If you have any questions about Asperger’s you are welcome to email me at “wouldaspie@gmail.com” and I’ll try and answer it as soon as I can either here on the website or directly!