Autism Research Institute

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Wikipedia

Autism Research Institute
Founded1967; 58 years ago (1967)[1]
FounderBernard Rimland[2]
95-2548452[3]
Legal status501(c)(3) nonprofit organization[3]
Location
  • Kelly Barnhill (Chair)
  • Robert Hendren (Vice Chair)
  • Harland Winter (Secretary)
  • James Walker (Treasurer)
  • Margaret Bauman
  • Wenn Lawson
[4]
Key people
[5][6]
Revenue$1,775,271[3] (2023)
Expenses$1,428,445[3] (2023)
Staff5 employees[3] (2023)
Websiteautism.org

The Autism Research Institute (ARI) is an organization that created a controversial program, Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!), in 1995.[7] ARI was founded in 1967 by Bernard Rimland.

Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!)

DAN! advocated for alternative treatments for autism and maintained a registry of doctors that were trained by the program to perform them.[8] DAN! was one of the more prominent advocates for the now discredited belief that vaccines may be a cause of autism.[1] Its "highest rated" autism treatment was chelation therapy, which involves removing heavy metals from the body.[8] Its chelation treatment was not supported by mainstream doctors.[9] Doctors told the Chicago Tribune the treatments were dangerous and that misleading tests were used to show that those with autism had a high rate of heavy metals.[8] According to the Chicago Tribune, metals occur naturally in the body and very little is known about what a normal range is.[8] As of 2009, three-fourths of families with a child diagnosed with autism will try an alternative treatment like those that were prescribed by DAN!.[8]

ARI's director said in 2011 that the organization's views on autism treatments had changed.[7] The DAN! program and doctor registry was discontinued in January 2011,[10] which was followed by the disbanding of the DAN! conference in 2012.[11][12]

References

  1. 1 2 Eyal, Gil; Hart, Brendan; Onculer, Emine; Oren, Neta; et al. (2010). The Autism Matrix. Polity. pp. 237–238. ISBN 9780745643991.
  2. ↑ Carey, Benedict (November 28, 2006). "Bernard Rimland, 78, Scientist Who Revised View of Autism, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax". Autism Research Institute. Cause IQ. December 31, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Board of Directors". Autism Research Institute. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  5. ↑ "ARI Staff Members and Consultants". Autism Research Institute. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  6. ↑ "ARI's Global Networks". Autism Research Institute. 2022-07-01. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  7. 1 2 Rudy, Lisa Jo (November 4, 2011). "Biomedical treatments for autism from the Autism Research Institute". About.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2014. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Tsouderos, Trine; Callahan, Patricia (November 22, 2009). "Risky alternative therapies for autism have little basis in science". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  9. ↑ Brownstein, Joseph (March 9, 2010). "Father sues doctors over 'fraudulent' autism therapy". ABC News.
  10. ↑ Rudy, Lisa Jo (September 2, 2011), DAN! (Defeat Autism Now) Is No More, About.com, archived from the original on May 29, 2014, retrieved May 29, 2014
  11. ↑ "Disbanding the ARI Conference". autism.com. Autism Research Institute.
  12. ↑ Dominus, Susan (April 20, 2011). "The crash and burn of an autism guru". The New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2014. He [ Andrew Wakefield ] no longer speaks at the popular Autism Research Institute conference