Asperger did not "create" Asperger's syndrome
No, Asperger did not create Asperger's syndrome (actually, the official name is Asperger's disorder). Asperger had called his condition "autistic psychopathy" (psychopathy meaning, in this context, any personality disorder, not just ASPD).
English psychiatrist Lorna Wing published her pivotal research on autism spectrum disorder. She had created the concept of the autism spectrum and coined the term Asperger syndrome. The first book in English on Asperger's syndrome was written by Uta Frith.
Two European women had created and popularized the term Asperger syndrome - not Asperger!
I do not know why this misinformation is so common. For a community that is insistent on pointing out sexism and erasure of women's discoveries in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders (like Sukhavera), we sure do forget that Asperger did not even create Asperger's syndrome. He did not have any say in the name of the syndrome or the diagnostic criteria. Asperger had died before Asperger's syndrome had been recognized.
The extent of Asperger's compliance with the Nazi regime is heavily disputed. Research by figures such as Lorna Wing, Steve Silberman, Uta Frith, Brita Schrimer, Adam Feinstein, Ernst Tatzer, Werner Maleczek, Franz Waldhauser, Dean Falk, and Simon Baron-Cohen, all disagree that Asperger was directly responsible for the deaths of autistic children. However, other researchers have argued that Asperger had more involvement than what others may suggest.
Is Asperger's inherently ableist?
For the use of Asperger's syndrome:
Many people say that using the word Asperger's is anti-semitic, due to the history of the term. However, according to journalist Seth Mnookin's assertions, many autistic people call themselves "autists," despite the fact that Asperger coined that term. The neurodiversity symbol also originates from Aspies for Freedom.
Some autistic people are attached to the term Asperger's syndrome due to it being their original diagnosis. Autistic people are known for not liking change and autism can be seen as part of one's identity. Similarly, the word Asperger's may be integral to one's identity, and people with Asperger's may not be used to the language change.
The euphemism treadmill - many terms have been quickly introduced and then abandoned. Notable examples include "person first language" (which was originally a movement by disabled people to push back on the stigma and dehumanization of disabled people) to "identity first language," "high functioning" and "low functioning" no longer being seen as acceptable, etc...the community has very quickly changed their opinions, often to the extremes ("using person first language is ableist"), which can be hard for autistic people, who notoriously, are not great at quickly changing social rules and adapting to them. Why insist on people changing their language if the language that is acceptable is seemingly always changing each year?
Asperger's is still being phased out as the ICD has only been updated recently. Some people are still being diagnosed with Asperger's.
Autistic autonomy - we are frequently told that autistic people should use whatever language or symbol they prefer. What if they prefer Asperger's?
Against the term Asperger's
The history of Asperger's can be triggering for members of marginalized communities that were targeted in WWII.
Asperger's has been used to "separate" the autistic community ("not like those autistics"). (I do have some issues with this argument - one, what is preventing the use of level 1 or low support needs in the same way? Two, this same criticism was used for high functioning autism, but HFA is not the same as Asperger's. Most people with HFA had PDD-NOS, which was a diagnosis for anyone who did not meet the criteria for autistic disorder or Asperger's, resulting in 50% of autism spectrum diagnoses being PDD-NOS. The argument that HFA separates the autistic community seems less robust when the profile of PDD-NOS was incredibly vast and did not only compose of high intelligence, highly precocious autistic people. Three, it is useful to differentiate different presentations of autism as level 3 autism is profoundly under researched - only about 6% of autism research includes level 3 autistics. Furthermore, LSN difficulties and experiences are extremely different than HSN difficulties and experiences).
Asperger's is no longer a diagnosis, so people shouldn't use it anymore (EUPD isn't a diagnosis, PDA isn't a diagnosis, AuDHD isn't a diagnosis, etc...)
I am not arguing that Asperger was a good person, or that people who use the term Asperger's are never ableist. But to endlessly argue that Asperger's should never be used (and harass people who do use it) seems to be a complete waste of time and a debate that only occurs online. I know several people with a diagnosis of Asperger's, who refer to themselves as having Asperger's, including a Jewish man. People offline do not care about this issue, so we should stop harassing people who choose this term for themselves.
And for the inevitable question, no, I was never diagnosed with "Asperger's" (did not meet the criteria), I was told I have "high functioning autistic disorder."
