Bernard Rimland

Overview
Bernard Rimland, PhD (November 15, 1928 – November 21 2006) was a research psychologist, writer, lecturer, and advocate for children with autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, and mental retardation.

Based in San Diego, California since 1940, Dr. Rimland was the founder, in 1967, and director of the Autism Research Institute (ARI), and founder of the Autism Society of America (ASA), in 1965. Rimland was long an internationally recognized authority on autism spectrum disorders, and was the father of a high-functioning autistic son.

Education and early career
After completing his undergraduate studies at San Diego State University, Rimland obtained his PhD in experimental psychology and research design, from Pennsylvania State University in 1953.

Dr. Rimland's son, Mark, was born in 1956, when the diagnosis of autism was rare. From birth, however, something was drastically wrong with Mark. Rimland had recently earned his doctorate, but was not yet familiar with the word autism. Only much later was it determined Mark's condition fell into the category of early infantile autism, rather than regressive autism. Despite challenges, Mark has nevertheless become a talented artist.

After his son's diagnosis, Rimland set forth on a quest to understand autism and bring much needed attention to the disorder, in order to foster research into its causes and treatment. Rimland has often sparked controversy along his way.

Among Rimland's major contributions to autism research was his discovery that autism is neurological. This refutation of the prevailing theory, propounded by University of Chicago professor Bruno Bettelheim, that autism was caused by unloving 'refrigerator mothers', helped to substantially change the way autism is viewed by the medical profession today.

Conflicts with medical opinion
Many senior figures in medicine and psychology questioned Rimland's contributions to autism during the latter period of his career. In 1995, Bennett Leventhal, a professor at the University of Chicago, tersely dismissed as "rubbish" Rimland's concern about the rise in autism diagnoses, and his assertion that vaccinations might be among the causes. Rimland was among a minority of researchers who believe that thiomersal (a mercury-based preservative) used in vaccines is a direct cause of autism. The United States Institute of Medicine (IOM) in its 2004 report found that, "the body of epidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism." The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), National Health Service (NHS), World Health Organization (WHO), European Medicines Agency (EMEA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and many other national and international medical organizations have issued statements of a similar nature, denying a link between autism and thimerosal based on the evidence currently available to science from a variety of studies. Vaccine critics generally dismiss such studies, contending they are often tainted by significant conflict of interest problems, such as the fact that a now-retired FDA commissioner had financial stakes in pharmaceutical companies that produce vaccines and thimerosal.

In her book, Children with Starving Brains, Jaquelyn McCandless, MD, calls Rimland "The grand godfather of the movement for understanding the biological treatment of autism." Rimland's book, Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implication for a Neural Theory of Behavior (1964), is credited by many with changing the prevailing view of autism, in the field of psychiatry, from an emotional illness --widely thought to be caused by refrigerator mothers-- to the current recognition that autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder.

Claims of an "autism epidemic"
Rimland was among the first autism campaigners to draw attention to increases in the number of diagnoses of autism. Rimland's early observations about the rise in diagnoses during the mid-1990s, are seen by some as prophetic of the 'autism epidemic' theory. Mainstream opinion, however, holds that increases in the number of diagnoses of autism are substantially, and possibly entirely, a natural result of changing diagnostic criteria, particularly in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which was reissued by the American Psychiatric Association in markedly revised form in 1994, earlier diagnosis, and improving awareness, among other factors.

A brush with Hollywood
Rimland has lectured on autism and related problems throughout the world, including before thousands of professional groups, and he is the author of numerous publications. His high profile, within what was then a small community of autism activists, caught the eye of movie producers in nearby Hollywood, California.

Rimland subsequently served as the primary technical advisor on autism for the 1988 movie Rain Man. Mark Rimland was interviewed by Dustin Hoffman, serving as one of several models for the character portrayed by the movie star. The movie helped establish worldwide awareness of autism, just when the prevalence of autism was first becoming apparent.

Ongoing endeavors
In 1967, Rimland founded the Autism Research Institute as a global network of parents and professionals concerned with autism. ARI conducts and fosters scientific research intended to enhance treatments for, and prevention of, autism. The ARI data bank, the world's largest, contains over 35,000 detailed case histories of autistic children.

Rimland was the editor of the Autism Research Review International, published by ARI, which covers biomedical and educational advances in autism research.

Rimland and his wife, Gloria, had recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The couple was married by Rabbi Monroe Levens of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, which was then located in Kensington, California.

Quote

 * "Soon after my textbook on autism was published in 1964, I began to hear from other parents. Many parents told me that their children were normal until getting a triple vaccine – the DPT shot. In 1965 I began systematically collecting data on the symptoms and possible causes of autism: In 1967 — 33 years ago — I began querying the parents, specifically about the child’s response to the DPT shot. Many had reported marked deterioration. During the past few years the Autism Research Institute has been flooded with an upsurge in pleas for help from parents throughout the world – from wherever the World Health Organization vaccine guidelines are followed. The majority of these parents say their children were normal until getting the MMR – another triple vaccine." Dr. Bernard Rimland (testimony before US congressional committee on April 6, 2000)

Books

 * 1964 Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implication for a Neural Theory of Behavior - written after his son, Mark, was diagnosed with autism.
 * 1976 Modern Therapies (with Virginia Binder, A. Binder)
 * 1998 Biological Treatments for Autism and PDD (with William Shaw, Lisa Lewis, Bruce Semon)
 * 2001 Tired - so Tired!: And the "Yeast Connection" (with William Crook, Cynthia Crook)
 * 2003 Vaccines, Autism and Childhood Disorders: Crucial Data That Could Save Your Child's Life (with Neil Z. Miller)
 * 2003 Treating Autism: Parent Stories of Hope and Success (with Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D.)
 * 2006 Recovering Autistic Children (originally published as Treating Autism) Second Edition (with Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D.)