Autism Research Institute
Non-profit organization in the USA advocating for alternative treatments for autism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Autism Research Institute (ARI) is an organization that created a controversial program, Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!), in 1995.[7] ARI was founded in 1967 by Bernard Rimland.
| |
| Founded | 1967[1] |
|---|---|
| Founder | Bernard Rimland[2] |
| 95-2548452[3] | |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization[3] |
| Location | |
[4] | |
Key people |
|
| Revenue | $1,775,271[3] (2023) |
| Expenses | $1,428,445[3] (2023) |
| Staff | 5 employees[3] (2023) |
| Website | autism |
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.[8] DAN! was one of the more prominent advocates for the now discredited belief that vaccines may be a cause of autism.[1] Its "highest rated" autism treatment was chelation therapy, which involves removing heavy metals from the body.[8] Its chelation treatment was not supported by mainstream doctors.[9] 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.[8] According to the Chicago Tribune, metals occur naturally in the body and very little is known about what a normal range is.[8] 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!.[8]
ARI's director said in 2011 that the organization's views on autism treatments had changed.[7] The DAN! program and doctor registry was discontinued in January 2011,[10] which was followed by the disbanding of the DAN! conference in 2012.[11][12]
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