ABSTRACT
The history of the “discovery” of autism is fascinating. Historians tell that the term autism was first coined in 1911 by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, who was working with a population of adult schizophrenics. He used the term to describe the flat-affect and difficulty with social interaction he observed in some patients. One of the major consequences of de-institutionalization has been to make the immediate family of a child the center of treatment and long-term care administration. For parents and particularly for mothers who, by all accounts, carry most of the burden of everyday care, this has become another hurdle. In the second decade of the 21st century, Autism, mostly, stops being a matter of specific State interest when the diagnosed individuals turn 22, or graduate from high school. These men and women have in a way “aged-out” of Autism. They, along with older and newer significant others must make their lives with various behavioral peculiarities, but perhaps without Autism.
