How the DSM-III and TV Shows Rebranded Autism

From Devastating Diagnosis to Marketable Identity

Image of Autism as a Superpower

Years ago, I was a fan of the hit TV genre anime. (I am still a fan but haven’t watched an episode in months!)

One of my favorite shows was My Hero Academia.

In this anime, everyone is born with a “quirk.” A quirk is a special ability that allows the individual to do something exceptional. For example, one person has a quirk that lets them control fire; another has a quirk that lets them control water; one can fly, and so on.

What I liked about the show was the storytelling. Our hero was one of the only humans born “without a quirk.” Ultimately, he gets a quirk and becomes the greatest hero ever— (I read the manga, I know how it ends).

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When I first watched the show, I never thought anything of it. This show is about three or four years old, and my focus was completely different then.

But now, as a father who is more health conscious, something sticks out about that show.

Quirks.

In this world, everyone has a quirk. What is considered normal is to have a quirk. Those without quirks, like our hero, are the abnormalities.

It wasn’t until I studied autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that I began to connect the two.

Within ASD, individuals may have particular “quirks.”

This makes them special, unique.

I don’t know if the individuals behind this show knew what they were doing¹ but what ultimately occurs is that the term “quirk” begins to feed into the modern zeitgeist.

When clinical lingo also begins to use the word “quirk” to describe a disease, we have an infiltration of the zeitgeist that transforms the narrative.

What occurs next is that medical injuries are no longer considered injustices by a system; they are now considered something to be celebrated.

This anime is just one example, but in today’s article, we’ll explore the Autism Spectrum Disorder.

• We’ll show how this term is mistakenly—and strategically—used to bury those injured by breaking down the conditions within the spectrum.

• We’ll then discuss how TV shows like Love on the Spectrum fuel a misunderstanding of this condition, further muddying the water.

Interestingly, if we don’t pay attention here, we may find ourselves in the world of My Hero Academia, where it is now normal to have a “quirk” –aka a vaccine induced encephalopathy (VIE)—however, in that world, that VIE is celebrated.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s dive right in.

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Note: My Hero Academia was one of the most popular anime series worldwide from 2020 to 2024, watched by millions of children across the globe. These children become the adults of tomorrow — and to them, the word “quirk” isn’t a warning sign. It’s something to be celebrated.

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Kanner’s Autism vs Today’s “Spectrum”

To understand the modern autism spectrum, let’s see how the original terms have been misconstrued from their intent.

Leo Kanner, the psychiatrist who coined the term, described autism as a “profound inability to relate to people,” and the children seemed to live in a world of their own, indifferent even to parents.

Kanner never expected these children to live independently. Even those with high IQs or “splinter skills” often couldn’t function in the social world, make eye contact, follow conversations, or adjust behavior in a group setting.

He wasn’t talking about quirky geniuses — he was talking about severely withdrawn children with:

1. No imaginative play

2. No friendships

3. No ability to engage in back-and-forth communication

In Kanner’s time, the diagnosis required that the person’s impairments prevent meaningful social interaction and adaptation — regardless of their intelligence.

This is how autism was initially diagnosed and characterized. A condition in which social interaction could be harmful and a life-long dependency was needed for the child.

If you’ve paid attention to our modern world, you see how we’ve swayed farther from this initial characteristic.

Kanner’s Characteristic of Autism

Kanner’s autism was severe, identified before age 2–3, associated with lifelong dependency, and only found in ~1 in 10,000 children.

Today, however, anyone can be autistic.

Someone today can have high intelligence, normal speech development, friends, and jobs (with challenges) and still be diagnosed with “autism spectrum disorder.” That would not have qualified in 1943–1980s.

So how did we get here?

Simple. The DSM. The “Bible” of Psychiatric Diagnosis.

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PDD-NOS and the DSM Expansion

In 1980, with the release of the DSM-III-R, Autism entered formally as a diagnosis. In 1994, with DSM-IV, they added Asperger’s, but here is where we see the first “catch-all” phrase of autistic disorders.

In 1994, PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder–Not Otherwise Specified) was also added to the DSM-IV.

PDD-NOS represented the Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) umbrella, which also included autistic disorder (Kanner’s autism), Asperger’s Syndrome, other similar conditions known as Rett Syndrome, and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD).

In plain terms, PDD-NOS was a “miscellaneous” autism diagnosis. It was typically used for individuals who:

• Had some autistic traits or developmental delays

• Didn’t meet the full criteria for classic autism or Asperger’s

• Still exhibited social, communicative, or behavioral abnormalities that were considered clinically significant

However, note that these individuals are not autistic by the original definition. They are able to function in society.

However, in 2013, here is where we get our current autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

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In 2013, the DSM-5 eliminated PDD-NOS.

All these previous subcategories (Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s, PDD-NOS) were merged into one diagnosis: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

This “spectrum” concept allowed for a much wider range of behaviors and severities to fall under the autism label — from children with severe developmental regression to adults with quirky social habits (e.g., neurodivergent).

What this produces is the ultimate “muddying of the waters.”

You’ve taken Kanner’s and Asperger’s original definition, which indicated that these individuals cannot function independently in society, and mixed it with individuals who are capable of functioning in society—who are just quirky—and now call everyone under this umbrella “autistic.”

The Academy of Ideas has done phenomenal work on the DSM criteria, and from their series, we read:

One of the updates to DSM-III was the inclusion of a checklist of symptoms purported to define each mental disorder. For example, DSM-III lists major depressive disorder as consisting of nine symptoms, and it specifies that if a patient exhibits 5 of the symptoms for two weeks, then a positive diagnosis of the disorder can be made.

An obvious question is why the threshold for depression was decided to be 5 symptoms for 2 weeks. In 2010, Daniel Carlat interviewed the psychiatrist Robert Spitzer, the leader of the Taskforce which created DSM-III, and asked him this very question.

“Carlat: How did you decide on five criteria as being your minimum threshold for depression?

Spitzer: It was just a consensus. We would ask clinicians and researchers, “How many symptoms do you think patients ought to have before you would give them the diagnosis of depression,” and we came up with the arbitrary number of five.

Carlat: But why did you choose five and not four? Or why didn’t you choose six?

Spitzer: Because four just seemed like not enough. And six seemed like too much. [Spitzer smiled mischievously.]” — James Davies, Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good

Lest one think this absence of research and scientific evidence was an exception in the creation of DSM-III, a member of the DSM Taskforce, Renee Garfinkle, recounts an instance where a decision was being made as to whether to include a specific symptom in the checklist for a mental disorder.

“On one occasion, I was sitting in on a taskforce meeting and there was a discussion about whether a particular behavior should be classed as a symptom of a particular disorder.

As the conversation went on, to my great astonishment one taskforce member suddenly piped up, ‘Oh no, no, we can’t include that behavior as a symptom, because I do that!’ And so it was decided that that behavior would not be included because, presumably, if someone on the taskforce does it, it must be perfectly normal.”

Renee Garfinkle, Quoted in James Davies, Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good

From the 1940s to the 1980s, Kanner’s definition was the key definition of Autism. From the 1980s to the 2000s, that definition changed. This blurred the lines between what was once a severe neurodevelopmental disorder and what today often includes social anxiety, sensory issues, or learning differences—often without any impairment in independence.

There has also been an increase in diagnosing autism. Below is a table showing how the rates of autism have increased in the past twenty years.

Coincidentally, the increase in autism aligns with the expansion of the vaccine schedule.

As discussed in our last article, normal developing children who regress after vaccination may be inappropriately diagnosed as autistic when, in fact, it should be vaccine-induced encephalopathy.

But what we’re also seeing is the fraudulent, frivolous waste of simply overdiagnosing individuals based on the DSM.

The DSM-5 redefined autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by consolidating previously separate diagnoses into a single ASD category. This change broadened the diagnostic criteria, encompassing individuals with milder symptoms.​

• A study published in JAMA Pediatrics² found that changes in diagnostic criteria accounted for approximately 60% of the increase in autism diagnoses, suggesting that administrative decisions significantly influenced prevalence rates³. ​

• Research comparing DSM-IV and DSM-5 criteria indicated that the new criteria might reduce the number of individuals diagnosed with ASD. However, the broader category could also lead to increased identification of individuals with less severe symptoms⁴. ​

We don’t have an autism problem—we have a diagnosis problem.

This takes us to the last section of this article: the individuals on Love on the Spectrum are not autistic.

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The Normalization Machine

As we’ve examined the history of this condition, we’ve seen how the original term has lost its meaning—as has the condition Asperger.

We’ve also seen how vaccine-injured children have been incorrectly diagnosed as well. These children are the ones suffering the most—but to cover this up—an entire spectrum has been created to where everyone is now seen as autistic. Everyone now is seen as quirky.

But the truth is that most of these individuals—as many as 60% (at least)—are perfectly normal.

Let’s take the show Love on the Spectrum.

The classic characteristics of autism are:

• “Profound aloneness from the beginning of life”

• No eye contact

• No interest in others

• No emotional reciprocity

• No independence expected

These individuals wouldn’t want to date — they wouldn’t engage in small talk, make eye contact, or seek companionship.

But what we see from individuals on the show are individuals who can:

• Hold conversations

• Recognize emotions

• Engage in reciprocal relationships

• Live independently or semi-independently

These individuals desire connection, are aware of social norms (even if they struggle with them), and can engage with producers, the camera crew, and the audience.

That is not autism—that is a capable, unique human being being propagated as the face of a condition. A condition that now hides millions of individuals injured by modern medicine.

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Closing Thoughts

It’s here that I’m going to wind things down because this is getting longer than intended.

The takeaway from this is that our idea of autism is strategically being wrapped—from multiple genres, anime to reality shows—to view it as something to be celebrated, when in fact, this is a treacherous result of dark sorcery known as medical intervention.

One of my subscribers,

Preston J Cole

, sent me this note, and it has resonated with me ever since reading it:

Every age has to have an alchemy manipulation magic wane over the people (aka trick) where oligarchy sits upon the back of systematic wage pillage of society by one of the modern slave systemic platforms as an agent of healthcare and cures but behind the one eye upon the pyramid of the dollar bill the magic wane use as caregivers and cure alchemy science and every time the eye upon the pyramid behind the dollar bill splashes with a new cure/reclassification/labeling/narrative propaganda.

In our current age, we are seeing the dark practice of magik wave its wand over the population to believe it is giving them cures, when in fact, it is destroying lives.

Medical debt is the number one form of debt in this country, based on millions spent on cures to no avail.

Unfortunately, this industry also damages newborn souls that incarnate into this world, but with its influence—along with other corporate entities—it seeks to promote these injured as “diversity” or “special” with their “quirks.”

Looking at the world from an orthodox perspective, it isn’t easy to see the connection. But when an unorthodox perspective is introduced, then all makes sense.

This is the value of looking at our world through an unorthodox lens. We can see the truth of reality and then proceed on the path that will take us and our families to greatness.

I truly learned a lot writing this article, and I hope you did, too. If you have any questions or feedback, let me know in the comments below.

As always, thank you for your time and attention. Till next time.

Ashe,

Franklin O’Kanu.

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Related Articles

Stop Calling It Autism. Start Calling It Vaccine-Induced Encephalopathy

Autism and the Fractured Soul: How Modern Science Severs the Soul’s Link to the Body

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Notes and References

1. I seriously doubt they did –unless there was a media memo asking for more diversity, and this show invertedly flipped diversity on its head by making everyone in the show ‘special’ – where the outcast was the normal one—I don’t know if such a thing took place

2. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/1919642

3. https://time.com/3652619/autism-diagnosis/

4. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4041577/