Peter Wynn
1 min readJun 6, 2021

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I wrote a piece about the importance of names and why they affect people. (No, this is NOT self-promotion). In it, I said, if you were an embittered Pacific War Veteran and, depending upon your age and how vocal you were, you were given a Seiko Gold Watch for a retirement present and had difficulty reconciling the fact that it was a present from the company and they didn't know how you felt about Japan, and told your wife you wouldn't have a Toyota as a gift, and your doctor diagnosed you with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, you might ask if there's an alternate name. Hans Asperger might not have worn a brown jacket or shirt with a red armband with a black swastika in the centre of a white circle, but he had no hesitation in sending kids he deemed unworthy to the gas chambers and he only saved those he deemed worthy. Hikaru Hashimoto, by contrast, was the first physician to describe autoimmune thyroiditis and the condition was named after him after his death. Hikaru Hashimoto was NOT a member of Unit 731, and he did NOT experiment on POWs. He died three years before Imperial Japan invaded China.

By all means, acknowledge that Hans Asperger's work helped broaden the definition of autism, but don't name anything after him.

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Peter Wynn
Peter Wynn

Written by Peter Wynn

Diagnosed with autism at 35. Explained a lifetime of difference.

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