Pioneering autism physician Hans Asperger sent disabled children to be killed by Nazis, study claims. Should the name of Asperger’s Syndrome be changed because of him?

 

Should we change the name of Asperger's?

Should we change the name of Asperger’s?

Experts say that the history had to be found and made public – but caution that it should cause no distress to anyone who identifies with the syndrome that took his name

Hans Asperger, the Austrian paediatrician who gave his name to a kind of high-functioning autism, helped the Nazis in their murder of disabled children, according to a new report.

 

The new study claims that the respected professor actively recommended children should be sent to their deaths at Spiegelgrund, where the Nazis enacted a policy they referred to as euthanasia that saw hundreds of children killed.

It darkens the reputation of the doctor, whose name is used by the huge number of people around the world who identify with the syndrome. But experts cautioned how important it is to ensure that people do not feel tainted by the newly discovered history.

Read more here.

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