Does Elon Musk have Asperger's?

Sofie Trepešová

Recently, Elon Musk hosted the Saturday Night Live and claimed to be the first host of this show with Asperger's Syndrome. Now besides the fact, that the first autistic host is said to be the comedian Dan Aykord, some people have questioned that claim. Plus there is another thing.

I think nowadays most people know what autism is. To autism is usually referred as to an "autistic spectrum" because both the symptoms and their severity differ for each person. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder usually described by symptoms like struggling with communication, the lack of empathy, having special interests, sometimes even geniality (it is speculated that Albert Einstein, however never diagnosed, was on an autistic spectrum). But one can not generalize it because just as every neurotypical person is special, neurodivergent people are simply unique even if they have the same diagnosis. Now if you want to read more about autism as a whole, I will write another article solely about ASD soon so you're welcome to read it.

The thing is, Asperger's Syndrome was first recognized by an Austrian doctor Hans Asperger. And it wasn't under the best circumstances. When the Nazi regime took over, disabled people were the first ones to be put to death. In the worse scenarios, they were used as subjects for inhumane experiments. It is believed that he has sent several of his patients such try outs. But not all autistic people are like, visibly disabled, right? So he found out, that some of them showed a pattern of behavior and abilities that included "a lack of empathy, little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversations, intense absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements". And he also found out, that some could not only live in a neurotypical society without any problems but could even lead successful careers. This basically made people with Asperger's "less autistic" or "more normal" than people with different autistic traits.

But the spectrum isn't linear so you can't really tell "who is less and more autistic", moreover it would be really inconsiderate and unfair towards others on the spectrum. So in 2013, the diagnosis was officially removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), with the symptoms now included within the autism spectrum disorder. People that were diagnosed before that are usually used to using the term "Asperger's" but the diagnosis is no longer actively used.