Lorna Wing, OBE, MD, FRCPsych, (7 October 1928 – 6 June 2014), English psychiatrist and physician.
It was with great sadness that I read the news of the death of a great autism advocate, researcher, writer, international speaker, and parent of an autistic daughter, Lorna Wing, OBE.
I remember hearing her inspiring talks at the professional conferences for the NAS, and she always had a way to explain autism so that even the layman could grasp the complexities of the condition, she was presenting until very recently.
It was as a result of having an autistic daughter, Sue, that Lorna became involved in researching developmental disorders, particularly autism spectrum disorders. She joined with other parents of children with autism to found the National Autistic Society (NAS) in the in 1962.
Wing was the author of many books and academic papers, including Asperger’s Syndrome: a Clinical Account, a 1981 academic paper that popularised the research of Hans Asperger and introduced the term “Asperger’s syndrome”.
I believe that Lorna is credited with creating the term “spectrum disorder” and “the triad of impairments” in autism and her book The Autistic Spectrum: a Guide for Parents and Professionals (1996, revised 2012), is widely regarded as the best introduction to the subject.
The autism community has lost a great ambassador.
