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Autism Research Institute

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Against allopathy
Alternative medicine
Icon alt med alt.svg
Clinically unproven
Woo-meisters

The Autism Research Institute is an organization that promotes the idea that autism can be "cured" through extensive behavior modification. They were formerly known as Defeat Autism Now![1] They appear on Quackwatch's list of "questionable research entities".[2] Even Jenny McCarthy's Generation Rescue agree that they are quacks, refusing to give grants to anyone who consults them.[3] You know what they say about stopped clocks

Nevertheless, Charity Navigator gives them 4/4 stars,[4] proving that you should take Charity Navigator ratings with a grain of salt.

History

The Autism Research Institute was founded by Dr. Bernard Rimland. Rimland believed that autism was caused not by bad parenting, but by vaccines,[5] and autistic children simply needed detoxing.[6]

The "Defeat Autism Now!" protocol involved bizarre biomedical "treatments" such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy, chelation therapy, and restrictive diets. The Autism Research Institute is also looking into behavioral therapy and genetic causes of autism.

See also

References