Kanner and Asperger described autism, but early understanding was narrow and incomplete.
The label appeared, but many people were still invisible.
Leo Kanner described autism in 1943. Hans Asperger described a related group of children in 1944.
These descriptions were important because they gave medicine a new way to identify a pattern. But the early picture was narrow. It missed many people, especially girls, adults, people who masked, and people with complex presentations.
The history around Asperger is ethically complicated because of his relationship to Nazi era systems and child selection. This should be handled honestly and carefully.
The point is not to erase the diagnostic history, but to avoid presenting it as clean and heroic.
Diagnosis can help people be seen, but it can also narrow what professionals expect to see.
Awareverse should hold both truths: naming can help, but the person is always bigger than the name.