Autism Research Institute

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.

Autism Research Institute
Non-profit 501(c)3[1]
Founded1967 (1967)[2]
FounderBernard Rimland[3]
Headquarters
San Diego, CA[1]
,
United States[1]
Key people
Stephen M. Edelson, Director[4]
ServicesOnline education, phone support, research grants, Autistic Global Initiative
Revenue$1,754,803 (2012)[5]
Websiteautism.org

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]

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References
  1. About Our Work, Autism Research Institute, retrieved August 5, 2014
  2. Eyal, Gil; Hart, Brendan; Onculer, Emine; Oren, Neta; et al. (2010). The Autism Matrix. Polity. pp. 237–238. ISBN 9780745643991.
  3. Carey, Benedict (November 28, 2006). "Bernard Rimland, 78, Scientist Who Revised View of Autism, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  4. About ARI: ARI Staff, Autism Research Institute, retrieved August 5, 2014
  5. "Charity Navigator Rating - Autism Research Institute". Charity Navigator. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
  6. Rudy, Lisa Jo (November 4, 2011). "Biomedical treatments for autism from the Autism Research Institute". About.com. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  7. Tsouderos, Trine; Callahan, Patricia (November 22, 2009). "Risky alternative therapies for autism have little basis in science". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  8. Brownstein, Joseph (March 9, 2010). "Father sues doctors over 'fraudulent' autism therapy". ABC News.
  9. Rudy, Lisa Jo (September 2, 2011), DAN! (Defeat Autism Now) Is No More, About.com
  10. "Disbanding the ARI Conference". autism.com. Autism Research Institute.
  11. 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
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