The funny thing about autism is how it’s percieved as a being a clearly defined disease like Huntingdons or Parkinson’s, when it’s actually no such thing. There’s no causative agent, mechanism or even consistent set of symptoms. It’s merely a grouping, a categorisation, for people who show poor social adjustment abilities.
It was first described (invented) by Dr Hans Asperger, who used it to distinguish global developmental delay (mental retardation) with partial developmental delay (partial retardation). That is to say, dr Asperger described that some children who appear to be retarded are actually not fully retarded, and may have some normal, or even excellent mental abilities in certain domains, but not others. Basically what he was pointing out was that a kid can look retarded but still have some redeeming qualities. “He might be only partially, not completely retarded”
The purpose of this was to create a distinction between these partially delayed children and fully retarded children, for the purpose of nazi eugenic programs. (This took place in 1930s Germany)
Autistic means partially retarded, it’s not some clearly defined disease
