Lorna Wing facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lorna Wing
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Lorna Wing
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| Born |
Lorna Gladys Tolchard
7 October 1928 Gillingham, Kent, England, UK
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| Died | 6 June 2014 (aged 85) Kent, England, UK
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| Nationality | British |
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| Spouse(s) | Professor John Wing, FRCPsych |
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| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Medical Research Council Social Psychiatry Unit Institute of Psychiatry King's College London |
Lorna Gladys Wing OBE FRCPsych (7 October 1928 – 6 June 2014) was an English psychiatrist. She was a pioneer in the field of childhood developmental disorders, who advanced understanding of autism worldwide, introduced the term Asperger syndrome in 1976 and was involved in founding the National Autistic Society (NAS) in the UK.
Early life
Lorna Gladys Tolchard was born at Gillingham, Kent to Royal Navy engineer Bernard Newberry Tolchard (1898–1968) and Gladys Ethel (died 1962), née Whittell. 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).
Career
Although Wing trained as a medical doctor, specialising in psychiatry, her focus narrowed to childhood developmental disorders in 1959. At that time, autism was thought to affect between 1 in 2,000–2,500 children, but its prevalence in the 2010s was considered to be around 1 in 100 following the awareness raised by Wing and her followers. 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.
Wing was the author of many books and academic papers, including Asperger Syndrome: a Clinical Account, a February 1981 academic paper that popularised the research of Hans Asperger.
Along with some parents of autistic children, she founded the organisation now known as the National Autistic Society in the UK in 1962. She was a consultant to NAS Lorna Wing Centre for Autism until she died. She was also President of Autism Sussex.
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'.
Personal life
Wing met her future husband John Wing (22 October 1923 – 18 April 2010) while they were dissecting the same body as medical students. Marrying in 1950, both specialised as psychiatrists, with John becoming a professor of psychiatry. 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.
Lorna Wing died on 6 June 2014 in Kent, aged 85.
