Autism was first described as a distinct condition in 1943 by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner, who called it “early infantile autism.” The word “autism” itself was introduced earlier in 1911 by psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in a different context, and historical case descriptions go back even further.

Quick Scoop: Key Dates

  • 1799 – Early documented case with autistic-like traits (Victor, the “wild boy of Aveyron,” described by physician Jean Itard).
  • 1911 – Eugen Bleuler uses the term “autism” to describe a withdrawal into inner life in schizophrenia.
  • 1926 – Grunya Sukhareva publishes a description of children with clear autistic traits, decades ahead of her time.
  • 1943 – Leo Kanner publishes his landmark paper on “early infantile autism,” widely seen as the formal “discovery” of autism as a distinct diagnosis.
  • 1944 – Hans Asperger describes a “milder” form, later known as Asperger’s syndrome.

So if you’re asking “when was autism first discovered?” most experts point to Kanner’s 1943 paper as the moment it became recognized as its own condition, even though autistic people clearly existed long before that.

How Autism Was First Described

Kanner studied 11 children who:

  • Had major difficulties with social interaction and communication.
  • Showed repetitive behaviors and intense need for sameness.
  • Often had good or even excellent memory and pockets of strong ability.

He argued this was not caused by parenting but reflected a neurological and developmental difference, which was a big shift away from blaming parents for a child’s behavior.

Around the same time, Hans Asperger described children (mostly boys) who:

  • Had social and communication difficulties.
  • Followed very rigid routines and interests.
  • Did not have major delays in language or thinking.

This laid groundwork for what we now call autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Before It Had a Name

Even before 1943, there were people whose lives sound very much like today’s descriptions of autism, but they were seen as:

  • “Odd,” “eccentric,” or “withdrawn.”
  • “Feebleminded,” “insane,” or simply badly behaved.

Examples historians point to include:

  • Victor of Aveyron (1799), a boy in France who had minimal speech, limited social connection, and repetitive behaviors.
  • Sukhareva’s 1926 paper on socially isolated, routine-bound, detail-focused children, which closely matches modern autism criteria.

These cases show that autistic people existed and were observed long before autism was recognized as a diagnosis; they just didn’t have the word for it yet.

Modern Understanding vs “First Discovery”

Today autism is understood as:

  • A neurodevelopmental difference that affects how a person experiences and responds to the world.
  • A spectrum, with many ways it can look from person to person.

The story hasn’t stopped at Kanner’s 1943 paper:

  • Later diagnostic manuals refined and broadened the criteria.
  • The idea of an “autism spectrum” replaced narrow, rigid categories.
  • First-person autistic voices now push back against purely medical or deficit-only views and emphasize identity, rights, and accommodations.

So, in one sentence: autism wasn’t “invented” in 1943, but that year is when it was first clearly described and named as its own condition in medicine, after centuries of autistic people living without that label.

TL;DR

  • The term “autism” : 1911 (Bleuler).
  • The first clear medical description of autism as its own condition : 1943 (Leo Kanner, “early infantile autism”).
  • Autistic people : have always existed; history simply took time to recognize and describe them accurately.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.