Author’s Note: In case you didn’t already know, I’m neurodivergent myself so this topic hits especially close to home. Luckily for the purpose of this blog (and maybe unluckily for my family and friends), the history of psychiatry and mental health practices is a bit of a "special interest" of mine. So what follows isn’t just academic—it’s personal.

Most people have heard the word eugenics, but few realize what it really means - or just how deeply it shaped both US and world history.

At its core, eugenics is the belief that the human species should be “improved” by selectively encouraging certain people to have children while discouraging or even forcibly preventing others from doing so. Early eugenicists claimed you could breed out mental illness, disabilities, poverty, and so-called “undesirable” traits by targeting those they deemed unfit. It was a movement that promoted the idea of “healthy, superior stock” while actively trying to prevent anyone outside the narrow definition of desirable, including the disabled, the poor, and people of color, from reproducing.

While the movement gained infamy through Hitler’s efforts to create an “Aryan” master race, eugenics was first popularized - and widely practiced - in the United States. It was only after the horrors of Nazi Germany that the world began to reckon with how dangerous this ideology really is.

As Wisconsinites, we can't forget how deeply eugenics was practiced right here in our state - and I mean right HERE. Like in the Chippewa Valley, here.

Wisconsin was the 11th highest state in the nation for forced sterilizations, with at least 1,823 people officially recorded as sterilized by the state (nearly 80% of them women, and almost all labeled “mentally deficient”). Our state passed its first sterilization law in 1913, and the first 76 procedures were performed at the Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled in Chippewa Falls.

Sterilizations peaked in the 1930s, averaging about 80 per year and often targeting women deemed “feebleminded” or “sexually promiscuous.” The law empowered the state to sterilize people in the care of both mental and penal institutions, and until 1963, legal sterilizations continued. Involuntary sterilization wasn’t fully outlawed in Wisconsin until 1978. The Chippewa Valley’s legacy in eugenics isn’t a distant footnote: it’s woven into the story of our own institutions and families.

Recent public statements by figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have alarmed many in the autism and disability community for framing autism as an “urgent public health crisis” and an “epidemic” that must be fought or prevented - language that eerily echoes early 20th-century eugenics rhetoric [1,2]. In his first press conference as HHS Secretary, Kennedy insisted “the epidemic is real,” called autism “a preventable disease,” and compared it to an infectious outbreak.

This alarmist framing positions autism as a catastrophe to be averted, much as eugenicists once labeled disabilities a menace to society [1,2].

Kennedy has gone further, portraying autistic people as societal burdens or “lost” resources:

“Autism destroys families, and more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children… They’ll never pay taxes. They’ll never hold a job… Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.” [3]

This stark litany suggests that people on the spectrum cannot become productive members of society - effectively reducing a person’s worth to economic output. This kind of rhetoric, emphasizing cost and dependency, almost word-for-word mirrors what eugenicists - and Hans Asperger himself - used to justify sorting disabled people into categories of “useful” versus “burden.” In Nazi-occupied Austria, this logic was literally deadly for those considered unable to be “productive,” while the “higher-functioning” were sometimes “spared” - meaning sent to camps because they could work [4,5].

Perhaps most disturbing is the recent news regarding a national autism “registry,” collecting extensive personal data on autistic Americans - medical, pharmacy, genetic, and even fitness tracker data. While registries exist for other health conditions, like cancer or rare diseases, they are generally voluntary and focused on treatment or research.

This registry feels different: not only because of the breadth of data being collected, but because it is being led by officials using alarmist, dehumanizing language about autism as a crisis to be prevented [6]. This effort echoes the darkest chapters of eugenics, when both Nazi Germany and many U.S. states used such registries to identify and segregate or sterilize people with disabilities [7].

At the heart of this movement is a drive to “cure” or eliminate autism entirely, as if it were a disease outbreak. Kennedy has repeatedly vowed to “find environmental causes” and make autism “preventable.” Meanwhile tech figures like Elon Musk have proposed brain implants to “solve” autism. In 2019, Musk said in an interview that his Neuralink brain implant could one day “solve a lot of brain-related diseases, “…anything from, like, autism [to] schizophrenia” [8].

It’s worth noting that Musk himself has publicly identified as autistic - disclosing his diagnosis while hosting Saturday Night Live in 2021. However, his suggestion that neurodevelopmental differences should be “solved” by medical devices echoes a troubling impulse to fix or eliminate neurodiversity, instead of investing in real acceptance, accommodations, and support for all kinds of minds.

After the Holocaust, “never again” became a moral promise: that society would never again turn a group of people into a problem to be eliminated, or stand by as human beings were devalued and erased. These modern-day efforts aren’t about improving the lives of autistic people, but about controlling who gets to exist at all—a chilling reminder of what “never again” was meant to stand for.

United States Parallels:

While the U.S. did not carry out systematic murder, thousands of people—many who today would be diagnosed as autistic—were forcibly sterilized, institutionalized, and subjected to harsh or experimental treatments: electric shock “aversion therapy,” lobotomies, insulin comas, restraints, isolation, and unproven psychiatric drugs in state hospitals and “schools.” Infamous institutions like Willowbrook State School became notorious for unethical experiments and abuse [15]. Even in the 2000s, autistic children in the U.S. have been subjected to dangerous and unproven interventions, such as the Geiers’ Lupron protocol, all justified by a drive to “cure” or “prevent” autism [16].

The Origin of “Asperger’s”: Sorting Lives by “Usefulness”

It’s important to note that the term “Asperger’s syndrome” itself has roots in this era. Hans Asperger, the Austrian pediatrician for whom the diagnosis was later named, worked within the Nazi system. He separated out autistic children he considered “capable of productivity” from those with higher support needs—often sparing the former, while sending the latter to clinics like Spiegelgrund, where they were likely to be killed under the Nazi euthanasia program. This distinction—between those deemed “useful” and those seen as burdens—is itself a chilling legacy of eugenic thinking [4,5].

Today, many in the autism community reject the term “Asperger’s” both because of its Nazi associations and because it reinforced the idea that only some lives are worth supporting.

Modern Echoes: Autism Registries, Cures, and Ableism

Dangerous “Treatments”: The Geiers—Mark, a physician, and his son David, who is not a doctor - ran formal medical clinics where they promoted and administered dangerous, unproven "autism cures" using hormone blockers like Lupron. These were not fringe or backyard experiments; they were offered as clinical protocols in medical settings, but with no credible science, oversight, or regulatory approval. State medical boards found them guilty of gross negligence, fraud, and unethical conduct—including endangering children, misrepresenting science, and improper diagnosis. Mark Geier lost his license in multiple states, and David was barred from medical involvement. Their studies were retracted, their clinics shut down, and their approach widely condemned as abusive medical experimentation. Despite all this, David Geier is reportedly involved in new autism research efforts—raising renewed alarm about oversight and ethics [16,17].
Registry Proposals: Kennedy’s HHS push for an autism registry, and the language around autistic people as a “preventable burden,” sound alarmingly similar to both American and Nazi eugenic logic [6,7].
The Quest for a “Cure”: The framing of autism as a defect to be eliminated, rather than a form of human diversity, perpetuates the same logic that justified so much harm in the past [18].

The Hypocrisy

While politicians denounce evidence based practices like puberty blockers for trans youth as “dangerous” or “child abuse,” they allow people like David Geier, to help shape new research and policy. The same leaders who claim to “protect children” are enabling those with a record of medical harm to do it again - this time with federal funding. It’s a stark reminder that protection is often selective, and history repeats when we don’t pay attention.

What You Can Do

If any of this makes you uncomfortable, it should. We cannot afford to be passive or assume “never again” happens on its own. When policies and rhetoric begin to echo the darkest chapters of our history, we all have a responsibility to act.

Start by educating yourself (and do it FAST) and those around you - read the history, listen to autistic voices, and recognize how patterns repeat. Pay close attention to who is being put in positions of power, what their track record is, and what the stated intentions are versus the potential impact. Don’t be afraid to question policies that sound good on the surface but rely on surveillance, coercion, or control—especially when they target people who already face stigma and marginalization.

If you’re concerned about the use of personal data, ask questions: Who will have access to these registries? What protections exist? How might this information be used now—or in the future? Reach out to your elected officials - your congressperson, senator, or local representatives. Demand transparency, oversight, and safeguards for privacy and civil rights.

Most importantly: stand with those most affected.

Center autistic people, disabled people, and survivors of medical abuse in these conversations. We are the ones with the most to lose - and the deepest insight into what real safety, dignity, and inclusion look like.

History doesn’t just repeat itself out of nowhere. It repeats because people look away, rationalize, or remain silent.

Let’s make sure this time, we pay attention and do something different.

History Repeats: Autism, Eugenics, and the Hypocrisy of “Protecting Children”

The Origin of “Asperger’s”: Sorting Lives by “Usefulness”

Modern Echoes: Autism Registries, Cures, and Ableism

The Hypocrisy

What You Can Do

Most importantly: stand with those most affected.

Further Reading and Sources:

History Repeats: Autism, Eugenics, and the Hypocrisy of “Protecting Children”

The Origin of “Asperger’s”: Sorting Lives by “Usefulness”

Modern Echoes: Autism Registries, Cures, and Ableism

The Hypocrisy

What You Can Do

Most importantly: stand with those most affected.

Further Reading and Sources:

My Time in Madison: A Reflection on Social Justice and Self-Care

Relive Your Past with Music