Waldorf Suvivor

If you've done deep dives into Rudolf Steiner's philosophies you may have seen those initials. L.K was an elementary school girl who Steiner once spoke about.

I too am Neurodiverse and went to a Waldorf school. In my experience there was no preaching to (or from) the children or teachers about Steiner or his beliefs, in fact, it seems Steiner forbade any Anthroposophy being taught to children directly. I only discovered Anthroposophy as an adult. The school was certainly a better fit for me than the average school and it was the first time anyone actually accepted me after years of bullying and alienation. It wasn’t perfect but neither would mainstream school have been. 

Your dives weren’t that deep apparently. From the minutes of faculty meetings it’s generally supposed the the L.K. child was a psychopath (She was in the ‘disturbed’ class of the school which was separate from the disabled wing. (She was described as amoral, and without a concience.)

whether she was posessed by a demon or not, he wouldn't have been the only person to believe it. There are many religious people who think Ted Bundy, Hiter etc were posessed.

In the time when Steiner was writing, biological determinism was a common way of thinking. Many experts believed that most human characteristics, including those relating to cognition, affect, and physical abilities,  were determined at or before birth. Steiner warned of the ethical and social dangers of this mindset, especially regarding their impact on children with special needs.  

Many at the time believed that a sterilisation law would stop the spread of genetically inherited conditions and make society as a whole, healthier. Steiner disputed this, arguing that as individuals with their own karma ‘handicapped’ people had a unique ability to help the planet and the human spirit evolve. His brother was deaf and mute and from an early age he claimed to have a particular sympathy for those deemed “Less than,” by society.

On the subject of profoundly disabled people being wiped out:

“…called congenital ‘mental retardation’ — but there is no such thing! There is only karmic mental retardation, related to the child's entire destiny. We will also speak about this more fully, so that you will see how an incarnation spent in such a mental state can, under certain conditions, have a beneficial place in a human being's karma, although it may mean misery in that one incarnation. There is need, after all, to regard things not merely from the point of view of finite life, but sub specie aeterni from the point of view of the immortal life of a human being. Then we would have a compassionate charity (caritas) and a wise one as well.”

12 September 1924,

Steiner famously taught autistic children privately before anyone else would ( before it was even a medical term.) Also the Anthroposophists worship the intellectually disabled, probably autistic, Casper Hauser as a minor prophet.

In the 1930s the German Jewish Anthroposophist Karl Konig and his wife escaped Germany and started the famous Camphill communities. Homes for children and adults with developmental disabilities based on Steiner’s work, consciously, as a direct opposition to the Nazi eugenics programmes in Europe.

The Anthroposophical therapeutic approach to Autism took into account:

“Even if the child is non-speaking (lack of expressive language), it is incorrect to assume that the child is unable to comprehend, follow or grasp what is being said. We need to assume intellect and address his actual age in teaching him academic concepts, exposing him to books, stories and life experiences.

Children with autism, because of their awareness not being completely grounded in their bodies, are less individualized and much more at one with the natural world as compared to typical persons. Hence, it is extremely beneficial to keep them close to nature, maintain eco friendly and natural living styles, food, rhythms and routines that are in harmony with the natural world.

They do not have a sense of “I” or Ego and hence they are not capable of any negative thinking or actions and are pure hearted. Interestingly, many verbal autistic children do not use the word ”I” to refer to themselves. Instead they use names in third person!”

Incidentally Steiner himself used to do this as a kid and it is often supposed that he was either Autistic or a schitzophrenic from early childhood.

Steiner acknowledged that “the only way to identify disabilities or irregularities is to measure children against a ‘norm’ and that by eliminating the ‘irregularity’, we might inadvertently eliminate a bit of genius.” He cautioned observers and educators to be aware of and alert to bias.

I’m not saying he wasn’t batshit, but I think he gave a lot more good to the world than bad.

There are certainly shitty steiner schools and shitty teachers, and shitty anthroposophists out there, but in general, they are, and always were, strangely progressive on the subject of neurodiversity. Your experience is far from the norm. Perhaps, in that uniquely American way, they turned your school into a cult.