Bernard Rimland, long-time advocate for individuals with autism, died of cancer Tuesday 21 November 2006 in El Cajon (CA, US). Mr. Rimland, who received a Ph.D. in psychology in 1953 from Pennsylvania State University, is considered by many to have had a fundamental role in promoting the neurophysiological view of autism and, thus, helping to discredit mistaken notions about faulty parenting (”refrigerator mothers”) as the cause of autism.
Although he sometimes championed controversial ideas about autism (e.g., large doses of vitamin B-6), Mr. Rimland had a substantial impact on the scientific understanding and treatment of the disorder. Among Mr. Rimland’s many accomplishments are these: He
- Wrote the ground-breaking book Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior in 1964;
- Edited the Autism Research Review International
- Founded the Autism Research Institute
- Co-founded Defeat Autism Now!, which provides the DAN! Conference and DAN! Webcasts
Mr. Rimland was born 15 November 1928 in Cleveland (OH, US). He is survived by his wife, Gloria, and three children. Jack Williams, of the San Diego Union Tribune, published an obituary. There is more information available on the Wikipedia, too.
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Last year I was teaching an honors section of SED 101: The Exceptional Learner at ISU. For the final project students had to work in groups of 3 to create a film using the iLife suite (way cool multimedia package on the Mac, for those who aren’t familiar). One of the groups selected Autism as the topic for their film, and in the course of their research found out about Dr. Rimland and his contributions. I informed them that he was still active at the Autism Research Institute and suggested that they call him and interview him for their film. They used an iPod and speaker phone, and the sound was as great as if they were in the same room taping him. Dr. Rimland was more than willing to share his time and his wisdom with the students. I’m so glad they had this opportunity.