On the first day of our fundraiser, we received a donation in the name of Herbert A. Kahn, who was a founder of the National Society for Autistic Children (now the Autism Society of America), and also a founder and Board member of the New Jersey Center for Outreach and Services for the Autism Community (COSAC). He promoted autism awareness starting in 1965, when little was known about autism and families affected by autism had scant hope for happiness or understanding. During that time, it was believed that autism was a severe emotional disturbance caused by poor parenting, not the neurological disorder we know it is today. It’s difficult enough to learn for the first time that your child will be challenged his or her whole life by autism. But the belief of that era – that you as a parent caused your child’s autism – must have been devastating. I’m impressed that Mr. Kahn and his wife Rosalyn were one of the many families who read Dr. Bernard Rimland’s book, INFANTILE AUTISM, which refuted this parenting theory and instead advanced the theory that autism was an organic disability. Dr. Rimland and Ruth Sullivan organized the first meeting of the NSAC, which was held in Herbert and Rosalyn Kahn’s home. That meeting gave the founding parents hope for a better future for their children and spread that hope to countless other families over many years. Kudos to Mr. Kahn, his family and all the other founding families for their hard work. People like him laid the groundwork that made it possible for families like mine to have a hopeful, happy future.
