Abstract
Letter to the editor in response to Michael Fitzgerald’s controversial allegation that one of the two pioneers of autism—Leo Kanner—may have been influenced by an earlier paper by the other autism pioneer—Hans Asperger—without acknowledging the debt, and that Kanner may even have been guilty of plagiarising Asperger. In correspondence, Professor Fitzgerald has suggested that I “consider doing my take on the matter”. This is it.
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Notes
Lyons and Fitzgerald, referring to a paper published by Schirmer in Germany in 2002, state that “Asperger gave a lecture in the Vienna University Hospital on October 3, 1938 describing the characteristics of ‘autistic psychopathy’ based on his case studies” (Lyons and Fitzgerald 2007, p. 2022).
I think Quayson refers to Asperger, not Kanner (or both), because he considers Beckett to have had Asperger’s syndrome; I don’t think he is taking sides in the ‘who came first, Asperger or Kanner’ debate!
References
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Fitzgerald, M. (2008a). Autism: Asperger’s syndrome—History and first descriptions, In J. L. Rausch, M. E. Johnson, & M. F. Casanova (Eds.), Asperger’s disorder. New York: Informa Healthcare.
Fitzgerald, M. (2008b). Creativity, psychosis, autism and the social brain. Last accessed 25 November 2011 at: http://www.intechopen.com/source/pdfs/20041/InTech-Creativity_psychosis_autism_and_the_social_brain.pdf [online].
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No grants or other financial support have been involved. The letter is entirely my own work. There are no special circumstances to report.
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Chown, N. ‘History and First Descriptions’ of Autism: A response to Michael Fitzgerald. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 2263–2265 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1529-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1529-5