Answer: Uta Frith is a psychologist who has advanced the field of developmental disorders such as autism and dyslexia.
Uta Frith is a German psychologist who studies neurodevelopment. Her most significant contribution so far is her research into children with autism. She was one of the first to support the claim that autism is a disorder of the mind rather than poor parenting.
Her theory of mind of autism was developed and formally outlined in a 1985 publication. In it, she and her coauthors argue that a mind with autism is better able to pay attention to small details than the average person. However, people with autism are worse at integrating other people’s thoughts and desires. This disconnect makes it so they have difficulty interacting with others. This is referred to as weak central coherence.
She is currently conducting research based out of University College London with the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. She currently studies Asperger’s syndrome and dyslexia. She is active in “women in science” initiatives, some of which include Science&Shopping and the UCL Women network. These resources are designed to provide support for women in STEM fields. She has also written about unconscious bias and how it affects grant funding.