Organization:Autism Research Institute
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| Type | Non-profit 501(c)3[1] |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1967[2] |
| Founder | Bernard Rimland[3] |
| Headquarters | San Diego, CA[1] , United States[1] |
Key people | Stephen M. Edelson, Director[4] |
| Services | Online education, phone support, research grants, Autistic Global Initiative |
| Revenue | $1,754,803 (2012)[5] |
| Website | autism |
The Autism Research Institute (ARI) is an organization that created a controversial program, Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!), in 1995.[6] 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.[7] DAN! was one of the more prominent advocates for the now discredited belief that vaccines may be a cause of autism.[2] Its "highest rated" autism treatment was chelation therapy, which involves removing heavy metals from the body.[7] Its chelation treatment was not supported by mainstream doctors.[8] 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.[7] According to the Chicago Tribune, metals occur naturally in the body and very little is known about what a normal range is.[7] 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!.[7]
ARI's director said in 2011 that the organization's views on autism treatments had changed.[6] The DAN! program and doctor registry was discontinued in January 2011,[9] which was followed by the disbanding of the DAN! conference in 2012.[10][11]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 About Our Work, Autism Research Institute, http://www.autism.com/about-ari, retrieved August 5, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Eyal, Gil; Hart, Brendan; Onculer, Emine; Oren, Neta et al. (2010). The Autism Matrix. Polity. pp. 237–238. ISBN 9780745643991. https://books.google.com/books?id=63wehcBSu7EC&pg=PA246.
- ↑ Carey, Benedict (November 28, 2006). "Bernard Rimland, 78, Scientist Who Revised View of Autism, Dies". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/obituaries/28rimland.html.
- ↑ About ARI: ARI Staff, Autism Research Institute, http://www.autism.com/staff, retrieved August 5, 2014
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Rudy, Lisa Jo (November 4, 2011). "Biomedical treatments for autism from the Autism Research Institute". About.com. http://autism.about.com/od/treatmentoptions/a/DANQandA.htm.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Tsouderos, Trine; Callahan, Patricia (November 22, 2009). "Risky alternative therapies for autism have little basis in science". The Chicago Tribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-11-22/health/chi-autism-treatments-nov22_1_james-coman-autism-one-conference-defeat-autism.
- ↑ Brownstein, Joseph (March 9, 2010). "Father sues doctors over 'fraudulent' autism therapy". ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/TheLaw/doctors-sued-autism-chelation-therapy/story?id=10045951&singlePage=true.
- ↑ Rudy, Lisa Jo (September 2, 2011), DAN! (Defeat Autism Now) Is No More, About.com, http://autism.about.com/b/2011/09/02/dan-defeat-autism-now-is-no-more.htm, retrieved May 29, 2014
- ↑ "Disbanding the ARI Conference". Autism Research Institute. http://www.autism.com/conferences_disband.
- ↑ Dominus, Susan (April 20, 2011). "The crash and burn of an autism guru". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/magazine/mag-24Autism-t.html. "He [ Andrew Wakefield ] no longer speaks at the popular Autism Research Institute conference"
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