Lorna Wing
Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox scientist Lorna Gladys Wing (Template:Nee; 7 October 1928Template:Snd6 June 2014) was a British psychiatrist notable for her research into autism. She coined the term Asperger's syndrome and helped found the National Autistic Society.
Early lifeEdit
Lorna Gladys Tolchard was born at Gillingham, Kent, to Royal Navy engineer Bernard Newberry Tolchard (1898–1968) and Gladys Ethel (died 1962), née Whittell.<ref name=ODNB>Template:Cite ODNB</ref><ref>People of Today, Debrett Ltd, 2006, p. 1758</ref> Following education at Chatham Grammar School for Girls, she commenced medical training at University College Hospital in 1949. After qualifying as a psychiatrist, her first post was at the Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital, London (now part of King's College London).<ref name=Telegraph />
CareerEdit
Wing trained as a medical doctor, specialising in psychiatry, and focused on childhood developmental disorders from 1959. At that time, autism was thought to affect between 1 in 2,000–2,500 children. Its prevalence in the 2010s was considered to be around 1 in 100 following the awareness raised by Wing and her followers.<ref name=Rhodes /> Her research, particularly with her collaborator Judith Gould, now underpins thinking in the field of autism. They initiated the Camberwell Case Register to record all patients using psychiatric services in this area of London. The data accumulated by this innovative approach gave Wing the basis for her influential insight that autism formed a spectrum, rather than clearly differentiated disorders. They also set up the Centre for Social and Communication Disorders, the first integrated diagnostic and advice service for these conditions in the UK.<ref name="NAS - Judith Gould">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Wing was the author of many books and academic papers, including "Asperger's Syndrome: A Clinical Account", a February 1981 academic paper that popularised the research of Hans Asperger.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journalTemplate:Dead link</ref>
Along with some parents of autistic children, she founded the organisation now known as the National Autistic Society in the UK in 1962.<ref name="Rhodes"/> She was a consultant to NAS Lorna Wing Centre for Autism until she died.<ref name=NAS_Lorna-Wing>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was also President of Autism Sussex.<ref name=Brown>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In the 1995 New Year Honours list Wing was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire for 'services to the National Autistic Society'.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
Wing met her future husband John Wing (22 October 1923 – 18 April 2010) while they were dissecting the same body as medical students.<ref name=Brugha>Template:Cite journal</ref> Marrying on 15 May 1950,<ref name=ODNB/> both specialised as psychiatrists, with John becoming a professor of psychiatry.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was following their realisation that their daughter Susie (1956–2005) was autistic that Lorna Wing became involved in researching developmental disorders, particularly autistic spectrum disorders.<ref name="Rhodes">Template:Cite news</ref>
Wing died of bronchopneumonia in Bessels Green, Kent, on 6 June 2014, at the age of 85.<ref name=ODNB/><ref name=Telegraph>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=nytobit>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=Guardian>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Hans Asperger controversyEdit
Wing has faced controversy since the publication of Edith Sheffer's 2018 book, Asperger's Children, due to Wing's previous defence of using Hans Asperger's name for the "Asperger's Syndrome" diagnosis. According to a 2018 article by John Donvan for The Atlantic, Yale psychologist Fred Volkmar, another major figure in the autism field, was on the committee appointed to investigate whether "Asperger's syndrome" merited inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) in 1993. Volkmar phoned the only person he knew who had met Asperger — Lorna Wing — and asked her whether she knew anything of Hans Asperger's rumoured ties to the Nazis. Wing, "shocked" at Volkmar's inquiry, had defended Asperger as a "religious man".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to researcher Herwig Czech, Asperger "hailed from Roman Catholic circles, and his orientation during the period of the [previous Austrian] system was strictly Catholic".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Donvan, the author of The Atlantic article, also included this information in his 2016 book, In a Different Key: The Story of Autism, in which he described Wing as "speaking of [Hans Asperger]'s deep Catholic faith and lifelong devotion to young people", and claimed that Wing had dismissed Asperger's Nazi ties on account that "he [Asperger] was a very religious man". Prior to Wing's popularisation of "Asperger's Syndrome" in the 1980s and early 1990s, Donvan wrote, "Asperger, dead for thirteen years [by 1993], [had] never [been] a great presence on the world stage, [and] remained a little-known figure".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
BibliographyEdit
PapersEdit
- Wing, L. & Gould, J. (1979), "Severe Impairments of Social Interaction and Associated Abnormalities in Children: Epidemiology and Classification", Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 9, pp. 11–29.
- Wing, L. (1980). "Childhood Autism and Social Class: a Question of Selection?", British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, pp. 410–17.
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- Burgoine, E. & Wing, L. (1983), "Identical triplets with Asperger's Syndrome", British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, pp. 261–65.
- Wing, L. & Attwood, A. (1987), "Syndromes of Autism and Atypical Development", in Cohen, D. & Donnellan, A. (eds.), Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Disorders, New York, John Wiley & Sons.
- Wing, L. (1991), "The Relationship Between Asperger's Syndrome and Kanner's Autism", in Frith, U. (ed.), Autism and Asperger Syndrome, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Wing, L. (1992), "Manifestations of Social Problems in High Functioning Autistic People", in Schopler, E. & Mesibov, G. (eds.), High Functioning Individuals with Autism, New York, Plenum Press.
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BooksEdit
- 1964, Autistic Children
- 1966, Physiological Measures, Sedative Drugs and Morbid Anxiety, with M.H. Lader
- 1969, Children Apart: Autistic Children and Their Families
- 1969, Teaching Autitistic Autistic Children: Guidelines for Teachers
- 1971, Autistic Children: a Guide for Parents
- 1975, Early Childhood Autism: Clinical, Educational and Social Aspects (editor)
- 1975, What is Operant conditioning?
- 1988, Aspects of Autism: Biological Research (editor)
- 1989, Hospital Closure and the Resettlement of Residents: Case of Darenth Park Mental Handicap Hospital
- 1995, Autistic Spectrum Disorders: an Aid to Diagnosis
- 1996, The Autistic Spectrum: a Guide for Parents and Professionals
- 2002, Smiling at Shadows: a Mother's Journey Raising an Autistic Child (with Junee Waites, Helen Swinbourne).