ABSTRACT
The first large-scale epidemiological study of autism was conducted by Victor Lotter, who established that the prevalence of Kanner-type autism in the county of Middlesex was 4.5 per 10,000 children. This chapter highlights a point about the association between autism and mental retardation, and then to spend time on a second issue about the qualities of social impairment observed in autistic spectrum children. The first autistic person, Gerry, was a case diagnosed by Kanner at the age of four and interviewed 27 years later at the age of 31 by Jules Bemporad. The second autistic person, Temple Grandin, has a PhD and international standing as a designer of livestock equipment. The chapter also highlights two contrasting points that emerge from all this. The first is that intellectually able autistic children may develop in quite surprising ways. The second is the persisting problems with interpersonal relatedness experienced by almost all those who have at some time justified the diagnosis of autism.
