The Department of Mental Health quietly removes half of the references to a Nazi from their website while not responding to my request for comment
The Department of Mental Health quietly removes half of the references to a Nazi from their website while not responding to my request for comment
By Maya Shaffer
Sometime between when I reached out to the Department of Mental Health's media contact Glenda Hazard on Nov 13 and Nov 26 the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health quietly removed one of the two references to “Asperger's” from their FAQ entries where they discourage people with autism from applying for DMH coverage. Glenda also did not reply to my follow up email asking for her to confirm receipt of my first email
Dr. Asperger was a doctor in Nazi Vienna and there is direct evidence that he sent many children to be euthanized. He was a member of National Socialist German Physician's League, the figurehead of the Nazi Party within the medical profession, and there are a number of direct records showing his Nazi activities and involvement. The syndrome that carried his name was a recognized condition in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) for under two decades and was removed over a decade ago.
DMH was right to remove one of the two references to the no longer recognized condition named for the Nazi doctor, but should have removed both which as of Nov 26 is still visible on their website. It makes sense to suggest that people who are looking for support with autism apply to DDS (department of developmental services) because autism falls under their auspices, however DMH goes further than this when it points out that people can be eligible for both DMH and DDS coverage… but then still discourages autistic people from seeking help.
Massachusetts DMH telling autistics not to apply for help that they could qualify for seems potentially discriminatory and definitely… well fucked up. At least there are less references to Nazis than before tho. Since DMH won't respond to my emails maybe this post will prompt them to quietly remove the other reference… in a better world it might even make them proactively look at all their materials and see which of them are a decade or more out of date and may contain traces of Nazi.
