It’s very important to give context on the diagnosis. Any psychiatric diagnosis is heavily tied to its historical context. Autism as a diagnosis was not the same in the 1970s with the first DSM as it was in 1994 with DSM-IV and we didn’t talk about spectrum until 2013 with DSM-V. “Back in our day we called that an engineer” that’s because some things that are listed as disordered were not a disorder back then.
But yes, I get your point that while some would be put in institutions, others wouldn’t be seen as disordered. I should have given it some thought before my comment.
I think that some of my reluctance with OP is that not all autism in the past was the “quirky engineer” one, there were already people being severely abused for a condition that didn’t even have a name yet.
It’s very important to give context on the diagnosis. Any psychiatric diagnosis is heavily tied to its historical context. Autism as a diagnosis was not the same in the 1970s with the first DSM as it was in 1994 with DSM-IV and we didn’t talk about spectrum until 2013 with DSM-V. “Back in our day we called that an engineer” that’s because some things that are listed as disordered were not a disorder back then.
But yes, I get your point that while some would be put in institutions, others wouldn’t be seen as disordered. I should have given it some thought before my comment.
I think that some of my reluctance with OP is that not all autism in the past was the “quirky engineer” one, there were already people being severely abused for a condition that didn’t even have a name yet.