| Autism Research Institute | |
| Type: | Non-profit 501(c)3 |
| Founder: | Bernard Rimland[1] |
| Location City: | San Diego, CA |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Key People: | Stephen M. Edelson, Director |
| Services: | Online education, phone support, research grants, Autistic Global Initiative |
| Revenue: | $1,754,803 (2012)[2] |
The Autism Research Institute (ARI) is an organization that created a controversial program, Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!), in 1995. ARI was founded in 1967 by Bernard Rimland.
DAN! advocated for alternative treatments for autism and maintained a registry of doctors that were trained by the program to perform them. DAN! was one of the more prominent advocates for the now discredited belief that vaccines may be a cause of autism.[3] Its "highest rated" autism treatment was chelation therapy, which involves removing heavy metals from the body. Its chelation treatment was not supported by mainstream doctors.[4] Doctors told the Chicago Tribune the treatments were dangerous and that misleading tests were used to show that those with autism had a high rate of heavy metals.[5] According to the Chicago Tribune, metals occur naturally in the body and very little is known about what a normal range is.[5] As of 2009, three-fourths of families with a child diagnosed with autism will try an alternative treatment like those that were prescribed by DAN!.[5]
ARI's director said in 2011 that the organization's views on autism treatments had changed.[6] The DAN! program and doctor registry was discontinued in January 2011, which was followed by the disbanding of the DAN! conference in 2012.[7] [8]