Ruth Christ Sullivan, pioneering advocate for people with autism, dies at 97

When her son Joseph was diagnosed with autism in 1963, Ruth Christ Sullivan found herself marooned, cast aside by pediatricians, child psychiatrists and other experts who offered few resources and little support. “He will always be a little odd,” one psychiatrist said of her 3-year-old. “There’s nothing wrong with your little boy,” another told her. “You’re just an overanxious mother.”

At the time, autism was believed to be caused by cold, unloving parents — specifically “refrigerator mothers” whose lack of maternal warmth stymied their children’s ability to communicate and socialize. But Dr. Sullivan was certain that theory was false: She had seven children, each of whom she loved and nurtured, and only one with autism.

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