Autism before autism

[Geordie]

What is autism like, before the concept of autism came into being?

 

[tree]

The older term was "schizoid."
I was diagnosed a couple times as schizoid.


"Asperger syndrome (AS), sometimes called "schizoid disorder of childhood," is an autism spectrum disorder."
from Schizoid personality disorder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Datura]

I frankly believe that whoever discovered how to make fire was probably on the spectrum. All of the other hominids were worried about finding food and escaping predators, then there is the one guy or gal sitting there obsessively banging rocks together, or rubbing sticks. Nobody gets it, and thinks this person is wasting their time. But then there is smoke, or a spark. This person refines their technique, and before you know it, they have redefined what it means to be human.

 

[Progster]

Sadly, people with more severe forms of autism were considered to be insane and locked away in institutions like Bedlam, where they were treated apallingly. People with milder autism or Aspergers were just considered eccentric.

 

[Karin]

I came across this list yesterday of what some of the autistic people did in the past - the ones that didn't get locked away.

Incorrect Pleasures: Referenced list of 175 famous people diagnosed as autistic or subject of published speculation about autism/Asperger syndrome (AS)

 

[23andaspie]

At least in the US, prior to release of the DSM-III in 1980, autism was recognized as its own diagnostic category, and was previously believed to be a form schizophrenia.

Source: Research and Innovation on the Road to Modern Child Psychiatry - Google Books

 

[Ste11aeres]

Sadly, people with more severe forms of autism were considered to be insane and locked away in institutions like Bedlam, where they were treated apallingly. People with milder autism or Aspergers were just considered eccentric.

I doubt Bedlam was worse than (or even as bad as) our current era's Judge Rottenberg Center.

 

[tree]

And since I don't know anything about that, I looked up some stuff....

Judge Rotenberg Educational Center - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Prisoners of the Apparatus”: The Judge Rotenberg Center | Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Controversy over shocking people with autism, behavioral disorders - CBS News
Home | Judge Rotenberg Educational Center

 

[qwerty]

Sadly, people with more severe forms of autism were considered to be insane and locked away in institutions like Bedlam, where they were treated apallingly. People with milder autism or Aspergers were just considered eccentric.

The difference between insanity and eccentricity is often simply to do with how much money you may have.
I really believe this world desperately needs to reevaluate the importance of money' role in causing undue suffering and and social disparity caused by such blatantly unfair economical practices.

 

[Progster]

I doubt Bedlam was worse than (or even as bad as) our current era's Judge Rottenberg Center.

And since I don't know anything about that, I looked up some stuff....

Judge Rotenberg Educational Center - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Prisoners of the Apparatus”: The Judge Rotenberg Center | Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Controversy over shocking people with autism, behavioral disorders - CBS News
Home | Judge Rotenberg Educational Center

This is no less than torture. It's disgraceful that such inhumane practices are allowed to go on in today's society

 

[Datura]

I doubt Bedlam was worse than (or even as bad as) our current era's Judge Rottenberg Center.

I think that might be hyperbole. Bedlam used to practice bleeding, scarification, starvation, and induced purging. Patients were also made to sleep on beds of straw and conditions were by all accounts filthy.

The Rottenberg Center sounds pretty horrible, but not as bad as what I just described.

 

[EdR]

I am 63 and as a HFA I was merely classified as weird, offbeat or worse in my youth.