Ruth C. Sullivan

Who is Ruth C. Sullivan?

Ruth Christ Sullivan, Ph.D. is a pioneer in the field of autism, one of the first parents to be active, an organizer and lifelong crusader for education for people with autism.

In 1965, Dr. Ruth Sullivan was one of the founders, with Dr. Bernard Rimland and others, of the Autism Society of America, and was its first elected president; she is also on the permanent honorary board of the society. Ruth Sullivan was founder and former Executive Director of the Autism Services Center, a nonprofit, licensed behavioral health care agency that she founded in Huntington, West Virginia in 1979. It now provides services in four counties to hundreds of families who have a family member with developmental disabilities.

She retired from the Autism Services Center on November 1, 2007 at the age of 83.

Sullivan assisted in the production of the 1988 movie Rain Man by serving as a consultant on autistic behavior, and Dustin Hoffman worked with Sullivan and her son Joseph, who has autism, when practicing for his role. Hoffman thanked her and Joseph in his Oscar speech. Sullivan has the last credit in the movie, and the extended DVD version features an interview with Joe.