This timeline is a good place to begin surveying events that have shaped autism and its history. You can browse the timeline chronologically. To see a subset of items on the timeline, select a theme that particularly interests you: Politics, Law, and Rights; Science, Medicine, and Research; Advocacy, Organizations, and Movements; Autism: Experience and Culture.

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  1905 Sigmund Freud used autoerotism to describe a state of hallucinatory self-soothing that Eugen Bleuler later called “autistic” and identified as the key characteristic of schizophrenia in adults. (SMR)
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  1911 In Dementia Praecox or the Group of Schizophrenias, Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler coined the term “autism” to describe a key feature of schizophrenia, a term he also coined. Bleuler borrowed from the Greek word autos (αὐτός, meaning self) to suggest a state of “detachment from reality, together with the relative and absolute predominance of the inner life.” (Bleuler’s book was not available in English until 1950.) (SMR)
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  1912 Henry Herbert Goddard, The Kalikak Family (SMR)
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  1927 Buck v. Bell (PLR)

   
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  1934 Lauretta Bender was appointed first director of Bellevue Hospital’s children’s service. She served until 1956, overseeing the treatment of children diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia and conducting many research studies on the subject. (SMR)
• 1935 Social Security Act (PLR)
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  1937 David M. Levy, “Primary Affect Hunger” (SMR)

   
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  1941 Rosemary Kennedy, John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s sister, underwent a lobotomy at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. It left her incapacitated for the rest of her life. (AOM; PLR)
   
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  1943 Leo Kanner, “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact” published in The Nervous Child. Kanner identified the core characteristic of autism as “the children’s inability to relate themselves in the ordinary way to people and situations from the beginning of life.”

   
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  1944 Hans Asperger published a definition of one type of autism in “Die ‘aunstisehen Psychopathen’ im Kindesalter” [autistic psychopaths in childhood]. Lorna Wing was responsible for popularizing “Asperger’s syndrome” in 1981. Uta Frith translated his article into English in 1991. (SMR)
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  1945 Rene Spitz, “Hospitalism: An Inquiry into the Genesis of Psychiatric Conditions in Early Childhood” (SMR)

   
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  1950 Pearl Buck, “The Child Who Never Grew” (AOM)
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  1950 The League for Emotionally Disturbed Children was founded by parents in New York City (AOM)

   
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  1950 The National Association of Parents and Friends of Mentally Retarded Children (NAPFMRC) was founded. The name was shortened to National Association for Retarded Children (NARC) in 1953 (AOM)
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  1952 John Bowlby, Maternal Care and Mental Health published by the World Health Organization (SMR)

   
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  1952 The first edition of the DSM mentioned autism only to describe schizophrenic reactions appearing before puberty. Autism was not a distinct diagnosis in the DSM until 1980. (SMR)
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  1953 American Academy of Child Psychiatry founded (SMR)

   
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  1953 Dale Evans Rogers, Angel Unaware. Royalties from this best-selling book provided critical funding for NARC in its early years. (AOM; AEC)
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  1954 Brown v. Board of Education (PLR)

   
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  1950s Harlow studies
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  1962 Eunice Kennedy Shriver went public with the story of her sister, Rosemary, “Hope for Retarded Children” (AOM; PLR)

   
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  1964 Bernard Rimland, Infantile Autism (SMR)
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  1965 Life reported on Ivas Lovass, a UCLA psychologist, whose work was the foundation of applied behavior analysis (ABA), an intensive method of behavior modification used with autistic children. (SMR)

   
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  1965 The National Society for Autistic Children (later renamed the Autism Society) founded by Bernard Rimland, Amy Lettick, and other concerned parents. (AOM)
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  1970 The term “developmental disability” was first introduced in the Developmental Disabilities Services and Facilities Construction Amendments, which amended the Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963. The 1970 Amendments extended eligibility beyond individuals with mental retardation to those with epilepsy, cerebral palsy, autism, dyslexia, and other neurological conditions. The definition of developmental disability required that it “originates prior to age 18 years, is expected to continue indefinitely and constitutes a substantial handicap.”

   
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  1970 Education for the Handicapped Act (PLR)
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  1972 Conditions at Willowbrook State School in New York were exposed by the media and became the target of a lawsuit that aimed to close state schools and substitute community-based services. (PLR)

   
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  1972 Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia established the right of developmentally disabled children to free public educations appropriate to their learning capacities on the basis of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. (PLR)
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  1972 Wolf Wolfensberger, The Principle of Normalization in Human Services (AOM)

   
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  1973 National Association for Retarded Children renamed National Association for Retarded Citizens (AOM)
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  1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act, P.L. 94-142 (PLR)

   
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  1980 With the creation of the U.S. Department of Education, the Bureau for the Education of the Handicapped was replaced by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). (PLR)
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  1980 Autism appeared for the first time as a diagnosis in the DSM-III which listed Infantile Autism and six criteria necessary for its diagnosis, along with three other types of “pervasive developmental disorder.” At the same time, the DSM-III removed autism as a feature of adult schizophrenia. (SMR)

   
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  1981 British researcher Lorna Wing published a clinical account of Asperger’s Syndrome, bringing attention to that syndrome and the work of Hans Asperger. (SMR)
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  1981 National Association for Retarded Citizens renamed Association for Retarded Citizens of the United States (ARC) (AOM)

   
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  1985 Simon Baron-Cohen, Alan M. Leslie, and Uta Frith, “Does the Autistic Child Have a Theory of Mind?” (SMR)
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  1986 Temple Grandin, Emergence Labeled Autistic (AEC)

   
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  1987 DSM-III-R substituted the term “Autistic Disorder” for “Infantile Autism.” (SMR)
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  1990 Education for All Handicapped Children Act renamed the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (PLR)

   
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  1990 Americans With Disabilities Act (PLR)
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  1991 Uta Frith translated Hans Asperger’s 1944 article into English. (SMR)

   
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  1992 Association for Retarded Citizens of the United States (ARC) renamed The Arc of the United States (AOM)
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  1993 Jim Sinclair, “Don’t Mourn for Us” (AEC)

   
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  1994 DSM-IV listed four subcategories within Autistic Disorder (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-NOS, Asperger’s Disorder, Rett’s Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder) and the number of possible diagnostic criteria increased to sixteen.(SMR)
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  1998 Singer, Judy. “Why Can’t You Be Normal for Once in Your Life?” introduces the term “neurodiversity” (AEC)

   
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  1998 Meyerding, Jane. “Thoughts on Finding Myself Differently Brained” introduces the term “neurodiversity” (AEC)

   
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  1998 Harvey Blume describes “neurodiversity” in The Atlantic as “the neurological underpinnings of geekdom.” (AEC)
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  2013 DSM-5 merged three of the four subcategories of possible Autistic Disorder listed in DSM-IV (Pervasive Developmental Disoder-NOS, Asperger’s Disorder, Rett’s Disorder) into a single diagnosis and eliminated Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. The overarching diagnosis was renamed Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD. Diagnostic criteria were concentrated in two areas: social communication impairment and repetitive/restricted behaviors. (SMR)

   

Born on October 20, 1900, in Verona, Wisconsin, Wayne Lyman Morse left a deep legacy of commitment to democratic representation, the rule of law, and intellectual independence in his service to the University of Oregon, the State of Oregon, and the nation. He displayed this commitment in his work as a law professor and dean of the University of Oregon School of Law, a labor arbitrator, and while serving the State of Oregon as U.S. senator. During Wayne Morse’s 24-year tenure in the Senate, 1945-69, he was a leader in a wide range of issues, including the anti-war movement, education, civil rights and international law. He is perhaps best remembered for his historic stance as one of two members of Congress who voted against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which initiated U.S. military intervention in Vietnam.  

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  Early Career

  Wayne Morse graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in economics and speech, and later taught at the University of Minnesota, concurrently earning his law degree. Read more.
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  Political Philosophy

  Senator Morse’s political philosophy developed out of the Progressive movement, which was largely a response to rapid industrialization and urbanization. Read more.
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  Political Career

  Senator Morse championed civil rights, labor rights, and equal access to education, and was an outspoken defender of the Constitution’s checks and balances. Read more.
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  Labor Rights

  Morse returned to the labor front as a senator, only to face a bill that threatened to erase nearly every fundamental right he had helped establish while on the War Labor Board. Read more.
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  Vietnam War

  Senator Morse was staunchly opposed to communism, even approving the use of military force to repel it when necessary. Read more.
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  Death Penalty Opposition

  During his career, Senator Morse was opposed to the death penalty, stating, “I do not think any bar of judgment set up by man has the moral or spiritual right to substitute itself for the Almighty.” In 1967, along with Senator Mark Hatfield and others, he co-sponsored a bill to abolish the death penalty in the United States. Read more.
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  Wayne Lyman Morse United States Courthouse

  The Wayne Lyman Morse United States Courthouse was designed as part of the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Design Excellence Program, which has improved the quality of federal architecture in recent years. Read more.
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  Remembrances

  "In the spring of 1967, Sen. Wayne Morse came to Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, at my invitation, to address the students and faculty.  His topic was “Vietnam and Congress’s Role in such Conflicts under the Constitution.” The Vietnam War was raging. And for many years, the Senator had been a strong and vocal critic of that war." Read more.