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Is the word 'Asperger's' regarded as offensive?

I've not heard it is,but that doesn't mean much.

A quote from another forum:

Widely used but considered offensive to the majority of the autistic community.



Comments

  • Teach51Teach51 Citizen
    Is it considered offensive? My man calls himself High Functioning Autistic perhaps I should stop using the term aspie. The term aspie is used all the time on autistic forums, that's where I learned to use it.
  • verityverity Administrator, Citizen
    edited May 2021
    When people speak for this get's my goat.

    Asperger's isn't offensive. I have both diagnosis (ASD).

    Some people find it offensive that there isn't a continuum.

    Asperger's is a subset of Higher functioning ASD, so it is an somewhat arbitrary model, goign on the historic criteria.

    It is always best when identity politic doesn't get mixed up with science.

    I should stress though that model are just that. Model aren't nessiarily mutually exclusive. People confuse identity with a diagnostic model.
  • AmityAmity Administrator, Citizen
    If I was to guess... Could be to do with Hans Aspergers assessments on children which recommended their placement in Spiegelgrund,  where approx 800 children deemed 'hereditary unworthy' were killed between 1940 and 1945.
  • HylianHylian Citizen, Mentor
    edited May 2021
    There's a fair amount of people that now don't like the use of Asperger's/Aspie. It's mainly because of others who grasp onto the term due to having an aversion to being considered as having "autism", and believe having Asperger's puts them above people with "actual autism". A lot of other autistics (in the U.S.) now associate the use of those terms with "Aspie supremacists".

    (Note: The "Aspie supremacist" line of thinking is different than just believing Asperger's Syndrome is a "higher functioning" version of autism. People who cling onto the term Asperger's/Aspie because they have an aversion to being considered "autistic" don't think they have autism and usually think of "actual" autistic people as all "low functioning".)

    Asperger's Syndrome is still an actual diagnosis in a lot of places though. The controversy with that diagnosis/term is mainly in places that use the DSM5, where "Asperger's Syndrome" is just part of Autism Spectrum Disorder now.
  • I was given the Asperger's dx in May 2019, before the ICD 11 came out. On letters re psych appointments he puts ASD. I don't see myself as 'high functioning' because I've never done paid work(and only a little unpaid work) and have a fair amount of support for practical/technical matters.  I have yearly 'care act' assessments. At the recent one my s/dau had an impromptu carer's assessment due to how much she helps me.

    Having both ASD +severe mental illness it's not easy to tell how much or how little is due to either diagnosis. I have no issues with using either ASD or Asperger's.
  • HylianHylian Citizen, Mentor
    I honestly have no issues with others using ASD or Asperger's to describe their issues. I also think people who have the concern about Asperger's having a "different presentation" than other forms of autism to be valid in their concerns.

    I think people who are averse to the use of "Asperger's" are just frustrated with the select few Aspies who cling to the diagnosis as a way to distance themselves from autism, and who view themselves as "better" than other autistic people and even NTs. I don't think those few people should affect how the rest of the ASD community treats people who still use the Asperger's label and are diagnosed with it still, though.
  • BenderBender Citizen
    I've seen "autistic" used with an intention to insult, but don't find either Aspergers or autistic insulting in any way.

    Hylian said:
    I honestly have no issues with others using ASD or Asperger's to describe their issues. I also think people who have the concern about Asperger's having a "different presentation" than other forms of autism to be valid in their concerns.

    I think people who are averse to the use of "Asperger's" are just frustrated with the select few Aspies who cling to the diagnosis as a way to distance themselves from autism, and who view themselves as "better" than other autistic people and even NTs. I don't think those few people should affect how the rest of the ASD community treats people who still use the Asperger's label and are diagnosed with it still, though.

    This is something that annoys me a great deal too. Apparently, the only way some people can feel good about themselves is by putting others down.
  • Statest16Statest16 Citizen, Mentor
    Apparently not to Elon Musk😁😁
  • MagnaMagna Citizen
    Personally I don't like the term "Aspie" only because it sounds cutesy to me.  I would never refer to myself as an "Aspie" for that reason.

     I have no problem with the term Asperger Syndrome and don't think it's offensive.

    I was diagnosed in 2019 and since I'm in the U.S., it was after Asperger Syndrome was no longer recognized in the DSM V.  I have thought about had I been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome say, ten years ago and then learned that my diagnosis (and in a certain aspect part of my identity) was erased, I would actually have found THAT offensive.  

    I'm sure there was no ill intent intended but I've thought that if there had been, it would have been a cruel joke to take a group of people who are typically very "black and white" in their thinking and very rule based and then switching things up on them by erasing their diagnosis.  A bad move to make that kind of change to such a group of people.
  • verityverity Administrator, Citizen
    I personally think it is bad idea to name a condition after person for numerous reasons, but you can't change history. However was is common practice previously and is not done so much now.

    The written evidence suggest the Asperger's wasn't just a passive collaborator with the Nazis, he actively participated in eugenics regarding both disability and Jewishness. Sending children to their deaths after being experimented on, both directly and indirectly implicating. He held such views up until at least the 50s. His own colleges had criticised his over-enthusiasm,for the Nazi programs.

    It is fair to say that Asperger did not view all his patents as irrecoverably defective, though he likely consider those with certain backgrounds, physical disability, behviour and IQ as beyond treatment and candidates for this program.

    Asperger himself did not coin the phrase it was Lorna Wing, and she was not aware of the full facts. Asperger used the phrase that is translated as autistic psychopathy.

    I do not know if Asperger's felt remorse, eugenics was a widely held belief at the time albeit with some variation on policy.

    It is natural to feel uneasy associating with that. I wouldn't be offended by the term itself, but I haven't associated with it for some time mainly becuase I consider a somewhat arbitrary distinction in a range of higher functioning autism. I'm generally of the view if you are going to make these assesment then you have to allow for all traits to be free moving to determine what pattern arise an consequence useful diagnostic groups. That is not to say that the original diagnosis is useful, jut that is has some limitations, and naturally thsi has consequentness for those who do not fit neatly within the box.

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