lorna wing

Baby and Mother

Experts report growing phenomenon of women recognising themselves as they research their children’s disorders

A “hidden pool” of women who have grown up with undiagnosed autism is coming to light as mothers researching their children’s spectrum disorders recognise themselves in their findings.

“There are far more undiagnosed mothers out there than we have ever thought,” said Dr Judith Gould, lead consultant and former director of the Lorna Wing Centre for Autism who developed the first and only female-specific diagnostic tests, and who trains doctors in how to recognise late adult female diagnosis.

“These women are coming to prominence now because there’s more information on autism in girls and women on the internet, so they can research their children and in doing so, diagnose themselves,” said Gould.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, founder of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University and the Class clinic, dedicated to diagnosing adults with autism, agreed: “[Undiagnosed mothers are] definitely a growing phenomenon. Putting a number on it is impossible but I’m sure it’s a big number because women seeking diagnoses of autism were likely to be dismissed until just a few years ago, because autism in females was thought to be very rare.”

Dr Lorna Wing who coined the term Asperger’s Syndrome

In fact I’ve seen Lorna Wing, the woman who coined the phrase Asperger’s Syndrome, a few times on TV but was unaware of her contribution to the lexicon of the autism community.

Not just that she was also a co-founder of the National Autistic Society (NAS) here in the UK in 1962.

Indeed so important was she that her death a couple of days ago made the new headlines.

Like so many of us in the ASD community it was having a child diagnosed with autism which sparked her interest the subject. I knew nothing about ASD until our son John was diagnosed in 2009.

Not just was Lorna a physician and a psychiatrist she was also a pioneering researcher in the field of autism. While her own daughter could be described has having “classic autism” she took up Has Asperger’s research into autistic children who do not have typical speech disorders as part of their ASD. So giving the now commonly used term Asperger’s Syndrome. She also saw that autism was a spectrum rather than a fixed set of diagnostic criteria.

The aim of this blog post is to collect in one spot a few of the obituaries and tributes to Dr Lorna Wing. For me, at least, she represents the tenacity that it see in so many parents of children with autism.

If you have written a tribute or know of a an obituary please feel free to put a link in the comments box below.

To start the process I’d like to share the UK’s Daily Telegraph obituary which will give you a great overview of Dr Wing’s life and the importance of her work. You can read NAS’s tribute here.

Thanks very much in advance. And thanks Dr Wing!

Patient Talk

Patient Talk

Autism: ‘hidden pool’ of undiagnosed mothers with condition emerging

Who coined the term Asperger’s Syndrome? Tributes to Lorna Wing RIP