History
Autism Services Center (ASC) is a nonprofit, licensed behavioral health center that
was founded in 1979 by Ruth C. Sullivan, Ph.D. to provide services in Cabell, Wayne,
Lincoln and Mason counties in the state of West Virginia. Though specializing in
autism, ASC provides comprehensive, community-integrated services to all individuals
with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
When Autism Services Center was founded in 1979, most people, including physicians,
were unfamiliar with the term autism. Children exhibiting the strange symptoms now
associated with autism would most likely have received a diagnosis of mental retardation
or insanity and some parents would have been encouraged to institutionalize their
unfortunate offspring...
Anyone meeting Joseph today would probably think he is
an attractive, middle-aged man with a shy smile and perhaps some slightly odd behaviors...
