ABSTRACT
This description, of a five-year-old boy called Donald, was written over 50 years ago. Kanner saw Donald and made these observations in 1938, and they appear in his landmark paper “Autistic disturbances of affective contact”, published in 1943. Clinicians and teachers today remark on similar features. Autism itself, then, has changed little over the half century since its recognition. But what about the years before 1943? Is autism a new disorder? Probably not. Uta Frith (1989a) has speculated that we can find evidence of autism throughout history. She mentions the “Blessed Fools” of Old Russia, who were revered for their unworldiness. The apparent insensitivity to pain, bizarre behaviour, innocence, and lack of social awareness that these “Blessed Fools” showed, suggest that they may have had autism.
