Salutations and welcome to another session of WWBS or What Would Bangs Say? Today's question is from a follower known as Jamie. "Hi! Question for Miss Bangs. Why is Asperger's an outdated term? Is it considered offensive now?"
What good questions, Jamie! My human and I would be more than happy to answer them for you. I will be bringing up a few of my human's personal experiences. Please keep in mind that not everyone with Asperger's or ASD is affected the same way. Asperger's became an outdated term as of 2013. Many believe it is due to its inventor, Hans Asperger's Nazi links.
However, it is more likely because there have been so many more studies on autism in recent years.
In fact, Asperger's wasn't the only term to be eliminated. All autism types were erased in favor of a new term known as "ASD" or "Autism Spectrum Disorder." This was a controversial change but we'll get to that in a minute. There are three levels of ASD: Level 1: Individuals who require support Level 2: Individuals who require substantial support Level 3: Individuals who require very substantial support For the most part, those with Asperger's fall under level one of ASD. Some people prefer this change while others do not. My human and I cannot speak for everyone but here is what my human thinks as someone with Asperger's aka ASD.
My human never cared much for the term Asperger's since people tended to make fun of it. She will show this in one of her future books where a girl is bullied by one of her classmates for having the condition. The book will be titled "Best Enemies". That being said, my human was diagnosed at twelve years old and was the first person to attend her school with the diagnosis so as much as she dislikes the name, she does identify with it more than ASD. There's also the fact that people with Asperger's are often seen as "high functioning". While my human appreciates that people are trying to compliment them, they certainly don't feel "high functioning" most of the time. To be fair, this could be due to her other conditions though. She often wonders how different she would be if she only had Asperger's and nothing else. We believe it's best to use whichever term each individual prefers to avoid offending them. We hope this helped answer your questions, Jamie, and thanks again so much for asking! If you'd like to read more about Hans Asperger, click this link: https://autismuk.com/home-page/history-of-autism/hans-asperger-definition/ We hope you enjoyed this session of WWBS and have a great week. Shine bright, starlights! Have a request for a future post? Let us know through comments or email to find out What Would Bangs Say? Contact us here: https://krisnbangs.com/contact