In Spring of 2024, I was granted the Kurt Mayer research fellowship through Pacific Lutheran University.
This Fellowship gives undergrad students interested in Holocaust and Genocide studies the opportunity to propose and investigate a research question of their choosing on a topic within Holocaust and Genocide studies, as well as a platform at the Annual Powell-Heller Conference to share their research.
I chose to investigate the origins of the Autism diagnosis which was established by German pediatrician at the University of Vienna’s Children’s Hospital, Hans Asperger, during the reign of the Third Reich.
Through my extensive research into the history of autism I uncoved evidence that shows that our present-day diagnosis is still being shaped by the original diagnosis, and that the orginal diagnosis, as historian Edith Sheffer observes: “[was developed] as the psychological opposite of Nazism” as Asperger defined the diagnosis by observing children he saw to lack Nazi cultural spirit.
Following this, my project thesis came to be “Nazi ideology has defined and continues to define autism as a pathology in the present through the way it influenced Hans Asperger’s initial work in defining autism as a pathology, establishing how it is understood culturally and clinically, and how the medical system treats it. It is critical for the wellbeing and justice of autistic individuals, their families, medical practitioners, and society at large that we investigate the scope of Nazi ideology’s influence on the autism pathology and Hans Asperger.”
The work that I have done in my recent undergraduate capstone is built upon this intial research and is central to my theorizing for how it informs my understandings of autisticness, diagnosis, and autistic positionality in our current society.
At the end of my research paper I was left with some very big and heavy questions:
-Were the Nazis attuned to a real condition that hinders the human ability to connect with other humans and the world or,
-Is the whole of the autism diagnosis is a condition that is only visible through a worldview informed by Nazi/Fascist ideology?
If the latter is closer to the truth, what does this say about our current culture?
If we are choosing to hold on to the fears about human diversity that previously led to the creation of the Nazi state and Asperger’s autistic psychopathy, what does that reveal about our culture that generally believes itself to be comparatively progressive?
These are still questions that I as a scholar am grappling with in my work, and while there are no definitive answers, there certainly is a lot of evidence that shows a connection between autisticness and fascism as individually unique and complex, but still opposing, logics of valuation and meaning making. (mannig)
This framework will be critical for shaping how we respond to the present moment in the U.S. in 2025, where the rise in fascist1 sentiments currently appear to be pointing us towards a trajectory similiar that of fascist Germany.2
My current work was developed in response to this growing political and social concern. It expands the concept of autism far beyond what Hans Asperger’s pathology and the current pathology define it to be.
I see the potential for autists, and those who practice neurodivergent logics to be critical voices in the present day discourses about democracy and human rights. We are capable of helping to remake and mend the state of our world into something that acknowledges and centers justice, liberation, and joy.
Our history and unique knowledge make us well positioned to help develop new ways of approaching current day issues, and I believe that people need to know this.
- Which is entangled with the concept of neurotypicality which I describe in this other post. ↩︎
- Zeitz, Joshua. 2024. “Trump and Fascism: A Pair of Historians Tackle the Big Question – POLITICO.” POLITICO. Politico. October 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/10/29/trump-fascism-historians-00186027. ↩︎
Full Paper and Recorded Presentation
Watch the full recording of the presentation of my reasearch at the 2024 Powell Heller Conference at PLU below.
Read a Complete PDF of my Kurt Mayer Research Paper titled “Nazi Influence on Contemporary Understandings of Autism” below:
The Art of Autistic Joy 