ABSTRACT
In 1943 Leo Kanner, working at the Harriet Lane Pediatric Clinic of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, published a seminal paper on Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact. In the paper Kanner described 11 cases of children whose early severe disturbances differed from any previously recognized condition. In 1944, Hans Asperger working at the University Paediatric Clinic in Vienna, independently described the same type of autistic child as had Kanner. Since the independently arrived at findings of Kanner and Asperger, two trends have evolved. Like autism, diabetes is a chronic condition, one that remains throughout life impacting emotional and physical functioning. The analogy to how diabetes is viewed without stigma can serve as a model for autism.
