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possible reasons aspergers wasn't recognized in the 50's and 60's?

Pats

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
We didn't have multiple toys to line up other than matchbox cars. We had 1 Barbie and multiple outfits.
Didn't have computers and video games to become obsessed with.
We were sent outside to play and our play was never observed.

Didn't have the resources we have today to have the opportunity to learn everything we could about one particular subject (mine was that I learned everything I could about music I liked but my information was limited to what was written on the album covers. But I could tell you at that time who sang what part and who played what instrument and could recognize them by their sound.)

We got thumped in the head to knock some sense into us often.
We were kind of forced to learn to behave normally.
Teachers checked behavior boxes in report cards that parents never looked at.

Kids didn't have a voice and was basically just something belonging to the parents.
Everyone (including teachers) used corporal punishment or worse and it was acceptable so we also didn't act up in class.
People had the attitude that you were either sane or crazy and quirkiness was considered sane, just weird.

It didn't matter how late you were in talking - it wasn't a competition then.
I know there are hundreds more to list - care to add any thoughts?
 
Great post. It was such a different world back then in so many ways.

A world where the atom had already been split, yet where when it came to neurology we might as well had been examined by a witch doctor. Where any number of us like myself were projecting all kinds of autistic traits and behaviors, but medical science simply wasn't listening. When Dr. Asperger was just another German scientist who wasn't going to get us to the moon.

So people like me had to grow up without a clue, and consequently stumble through life in a Neurotypical world we didn't understand. With no way of even explaining such feelings of bewilderment and alienation.
 
We didn't have multiple toys to line up other than matchbox cars. We had 1 Barbie and multiple outfits.
Didn't have computers and video games to become obsessed with.
We were sent outside to play and our play was never observed.

Didn't have the resources we have today to have the opportunity to learn everything we could about one particular subject (mine was that I learned everything I could about music I liked but my information was limited to what was written on the album covers. But I could tell you at that time who sang what part and who played what instrument and could recognize them by their sound.)

We got thumped in the head to knock some sense into us often.
We were kind of forced to learn to behave normally.
Teachers checked behavior boxes in report cards that parents never looked at.

Kids didn't have a voice and was basically just something belonging to the parents.
Everyone (including teachers) used corporal punishment or worse and it was acceptable so we also didn't act up in class.
People had the attitude that you were either sane or crazy and quirkiness was considered sane, just weird.

It didn't matter how late you were in talking - it wasn't a competition then.
I know there are hundreds more to list - care to add any thoughts?

IMO if you had anything mentally wrong with you back then, they'd probably put you in a Loony Bin/Mental Institution.
 
Even in the '70s & '80s there was limited knowledge & support, when I grew up. If you were high functioning but awkward, you were just the shy geek; you'll grow out of it!
 
Even in the '70s & '80s there was limited knowledge & support, when I grew up. If you were high functioning but awkward, you were just the shy geek; you'll grow out of it!

Even now, aside from people who "need" to know about the condition, nobody knows and in some cases they've never even heard of it, that's why it's best NOT to declare it on job applications.
 
We didn't have multiple toys to line up other than matchbox cars. We had 1 Barbie and multiple outfits.
Didn't have computers and video games to become obsessed with.
We were sent outside to play and our play was never observed.

Didn't have the resources we have today to have the opportunity to learn everything we could about one particular subject (mine was that I learned everything I could about music I liked but my information was limited to what was written on the album covers. But I could tell you at that time who sang what part and who played what instrument and could recognize them by their sound.)

We got thumped in the head to knock some sense into us often.
We were kind of forced to learn to behave normally.
Teachers checked behavior boxes in report cards that parents never looked at.

Kids didn't have a voice and was basically just something belonging to the parents.
Everyone (including teachers) used corporal punishment or worse and it was acceptable so we also didn't act up in class.
People had the attitude that you were either sane or crazy and quirkiness was considered sane, just weird.

It didn't matter how late you were in talking - it wasn't a competition then.
I know there are hundreds more to list - care to add any thoughts?
Especially in the UK if you are loud you are noticed !if you are me who was described every single term as quiet !you would just be quiet!.
Autism was noticed in the UK as loud ,discordant ,unnerving ,misunderstood language ,Male humans immature,I hid those things some of them never happened .
Individuality was not encouraged .
 
We didn't have multiple toys to line up other than matchbox cars. We had 1 Barbie and multiple outfits.
Didn't have computers and video games to become obsessed with.
We were sent outside to play and our play was never observed.

Didn't have the resources we have today to have the opportunity to learn everything we could about one particular subject (mine was that I learned everything I could about music I liked but my information was limited to what was written on the album covers. But I could tell you at that time who sang what part and who played what instrument and could recognize them by their sound.)

We got thumped in the head to knock some sense into us often.
We were kind of forced to learn to behave normally.
Teachers checked behavior boxes in report cards that parents never looked at.

Kids didn't have a voice and was basically just something belonging to the parents.
Everyone (including teachers) used corporal punishment or worse and it was acceptable so we also didn't act up in class.
People had the attitude that you were either sane or crazy and quirkiness was considered sane, just weird.

It didn't matter how late you were in talking - it wasn't a competition then.
I know there are hundreds more to list - care to add any thoughts?
As a Gen Xer, I bridged both of those worlds. I think the world for people that have Autism is much better today than it was. There are more support systems and a greater, more learned understanding exists today. Corporal punishment and public shaming only cause more problems for people suffering from Autism. I remember going through public humiliation from teachers. It did nothing but cause me to retreat further, develop anger issues, and causing me to want to lash out. The psychological abuse I suffered at the hands of people supposed to educate me and help me to develop as an adult was permanent.

But I can take some good out of my experience. I will no longer stand by if someone else is being abused. I will stand up for the people unable to do so. I will advocate for those unable to advocate for themselves. Sometimes I wonder how and why I have not become sociopathic.
 
I grew up in the 70's and 80's, same thing... I grew up in the infancy of computers and long before the pressure of social media... Also before a forum like this could exist... As high functioning I was simply a slightly eccentric, sometimes shy and quiet person, but I basically functioned with the world for the most part...
 
When I was growing up in the UK in the 70s/early 80s, only those with more severe symptoms were diagnosed and autism was known as a very rare condition in which the person was non-verbal and almost entirely in a world of their own. That's what people understood about autism and if you weren't non-verbal, it's very unlikely that you'd be diagnosed with it. Kids with milder symptoms, difficult behaviour or social/learning difficulties were simply labelled 'naughty' and dealt with as such, or put in a 'slow learners' class. It was very much a 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' mentality. Emphasis was on academic achievement and not so much social integration and development. So they didn't really care that much if you had social difficulties or didn't really notice if you were unhappy or depressed or had other mental health issues, as long as you got good grades it was of no concern. As @Streetwise says, if you were loud you would have drawn their attention, mainly negative attention, but if you were quiet, they didn't notice you and you slipped under the radar.
 
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I was diagnosed in October 1999 at the age of 23 and half.

In the many years before, nobody even considered Autism as the root of my problems, they just thought I was "odd", like Roy Cropper on Coronation St, a long time friend of ours once told me that his character is based on someone with Asperger's, but it's never been brought up on the soap and probably never will be.
 
We were kind of forced to learn to behave normally.
Yep.
I'm really nervous writing on here, not sure if I am going to say something wrong, but here goes..
We behave "normally" until pressure is put on us. I have been wondering for awhile (been watching a police show) how many people on the spectrum have been accused of things they did not do by parents, teachers, pastors, or others in authority and punished because they acted awkwardly when "interrogated." Is it possible ASD folks are in prison today because a police officer decided they were guilty and "did what was needed to make sure justice was done?"
I know as a child I was punished so many times for things I did not do and I never understood why.
I was ran out of a church by a pastor who listened to gossip, called me into a meetings with the elders and treated me like a criminal until I explained my side. Not once, again and again and again. Until I left. (I'm not a christian any longer.) Then made sure all the other churches in the area knew I was evil. I couldn't find a place to go where I wasn't treated like a leper. In the name of God.
Sorry if this is offensive.
It is good that society is recognizing that we are different (not evil, retarded or dangerous) but I would still like never to have to openly acknowledge that I am HFA. It could cost me my job, my right to drive, and who knows what else.
 
Thus why some of us mask our traits and behaviors. To forcibly adapt to the world we had to live in, because we were never given a choice to be ourselves. That the further you go back in time, the more you were expected to conform to the masses in a micro-managed manner and without question.

A social dynamic I'm reminded of recalling the first kid in school with long hair. Just one guy...yet within two or three years we all pretty much looked the same- like the Beatles. And by then, that same guy looked my like Jesus. Go figure, considering a few years later even the Beatles looked more like Jesus as well.

Before then, the very idea of being a social maverick was simply taboo. Even if it simply meant you being yourself. And there were many such taboos back then as well. Funny to think that in as much as "rugged individualism" was stressed, that it didn't extend to actually looking the part. :rolleyes:
 
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Boys were clearly diagnosed with aspergers and in fact, I hear that Han's Aspergers said that only boys could have it and then, some year's later, retracted that.

Aspergers in females are slightly different to how it is in males.

I did see a therapist at one stage, when I was under 10. I have very little recollection, but it is the words that I remember and it was almost in a dismissive way. I know I felt that I was being "told off" for being so silly for being shy and it was deemed that I was just extruiatingly shy and that is why I could not interact with others.

I was told that I had a strange habit of lining my grandpa's shoes up and knotting the laces. I have absolutely no recollection of this at all. But that is the only thing that I lined up.

It is only now and thanks to a fairly good memory, that I get the: ahh, that was what was wrong? I felt scared of being in other's company, because of not getting jokes or sarcasim and I am remember my second sister often joking about: oh, Suzanne, did you not know that such and such was teasing etc? No, I had no idea and this made me frightened of people, but also a dreadful need to be liked and so, I was not one to happily sit on my own in a corner. I always envied the ease which others actually got on with chatting.

To this day, when I see groups of girls talking, I feel myself shinking back in horror!

I know I have competely veered off the subject lol
 
@techteach said:
"It is good that society is recognizing that we are different (not evil, retarded or dangerous) but I would still like never to have to openly acknowledge that I am HFA. It could cost me my job, my right to drive, and who knows what else."

This is something I get anxious about sometimes too...which is why I stopped using my real name on the forum. Not only on the spectrum but a single parent of 2 girls with minimal support from their mother...my dad is dead & never knew my mother. So I need my job not just to survive but make sure they do too! I'm sometimes worried my employer might find out & can me...
 
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@techteach said:
"It is good that society is recognizing that we are different (not evil, retarded or dangerous) but I would still like never to have to openly acknowledge that I am HFA. It could cost me my job, my right to drive, and who knows what else."

In the 50s and 60s we weren't even on the radar. The good news is that now we are. But that's the bad news as well. Where even Hollywood has made us appear "dangerous". :oops:

 
I wasn't diagnosed with Asperger's until my late 20's in 2001. As a child people noticed there were some things about me that were odd, but because I was seen as intelligent, talented and creative people just thought that was part of my being an "artist". I was allowed to be myself and was usually happy
.
BUT THEN! I became a teenager, and all of that changed. Suddenly I was supposed to give up kid stuff that I was still interested in and become into adult stuff that I was too young to do and thought most of it was stupid or dangerous anyway. I started having all kinds of mental and emotional problems. Adults, even my own mother, were constantly trying to force me to act like a normal teenager and give up my special interests, trying to get me interested in things I had zero interest in and only added to my anxiety. It was horrible. I would ask my mother why I was so different, and she didn't have the answer. No one did

I think anyone who thinks the teen years were the best years of your life must have been very high on drugs the whole time or really don't remember what it was like.
 
Boys were clearly diagnosed with aspergers and in fact, I hear that Han's Aspergers said that only boys could have it and then, some year's later, retracted that.

Aspergers in females are slightly different to how it is in males.

I did see a therapist at one stage, when I was under 10. I have very little recollection, but it is the words that I remember and it was almost in a dismissive way. I know I felt that I was being "told off" for being so silly for being shy and it was deemed that I was just extruiatingly shy and that is why I could not interact with others.

I was told that I had a strange habit of lining my grandpa's shoes up and knotting the laces. I have absolutely no recollection of this at all. But that is the only thing that I lined up.

It is only now and thanks to a fairly good memory, that I get the: ahh, that was what was wrong? I felt scared of being in other's company, because of not getting jokes or sarcasim and I am remember my second sister often joking about: oh, Suzanne, did you not know that such and such was teasing etc? No, I had no idea and this made me frightened of people, but also a dreadful need to be liked and so, I was not one to happily sit on my own in a corner. I always envied the ease which others actually got on with chatting.

To this day, when I see groups of girls talking, I feel myself shinking back in horror!

I know I have competely veered off the subject lol


What you say makes perfect sense to me. Clusters of teenagers, girls or boys, should raise alarm bells to those who are different from them or just plain old unpopular with them. The clusters are typically are insecure about themselves, desperate to fit in, resort to bulling to curry favor with their friends and to retaliate against bullying that they have also experienced, and are generally immature and emotionally shallow. Teenage years are about the hardest phase of life. Some turn out great; others turn out the opposite, and it is hell being a parent to teenagers and trying to teach them the right things.
 
"As a child people noticed there were some things about me that were odd, but because I was seen as intelligent, talented and creative people just thought that was part of my being an "artist"."

That's true. I hadn't really thought about it, but I do get a lot of 'she's one of those arty types' comments when I'm being described to someone! I probably get away with a lot more than I would otherwise just because I happen to paint. I've heard my dad use the 'nerdy', 'artist' terminology before to people who wouldn't understand autism. Working in IT is another good excuse. Now I'm a programmer, it's like I have the best get out clause ever! My great aunt, for example, would struggle with autism, but is absolutely fine with the idea that I'm a 'computer geek' and attributes any odd things I do to that since coding is a mysterious magical craft to her!
 
The eugenics movement and what was left of it in the treatment of disabled or "insane" people, including lobotomy, was not exactly encouraging people to seek help.

The irony is that I, for one, would probably have been identified much earlier if I had grown up back then – maybe even before I had a chance to learn to mask. Not sure I would have been diagnosed with autism, though.
 
The eugenics movement and what was left of it in the treatment of disabled or "insane" people, including lobotomy, was not exactly encouraging people to seek help.

The irony is that I, for one, would probably have been identified much earlier if I had grown up back then – maybe even before I had a chance to learn to mask. Not sure I would have been diagnosed with autism, though.

No, like I said they'd have said you were "mad" and chucked you in the local Mad House.
 

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