#ABA therapy

[eattingbuggs]

i love guilty gear

More like i love aba 😓

[wheelie-sick]

it really does bother me the number of people who talk about ABA therapy and have not once read a first hand account of it. the number of people who will say "ABA is abuse" all day long but can't tell you why.

you're not helping us.

in order to advocate against ABA you have to have an understanding of what ABA actually is and why it's harmful. in order to advocate for us you need to know our stories and you need to understand what went wrong with them. you need to know that the problems with ABA go deeper than "it forces eye contact" or "it forces masking." you need to be able to explain what happens in ABA and why it's a problem. if you can't do those things you are useless to us.

right now the ABA discussion is a game of telephone. people are passing on information from non-survivor to non-survivor to non-survivor and so on until the message has been so muddied that no one knows what's actually going on. learn about our experiences.

[hello-nichya-here]

Did Sia insult topic of autism somehow?

Oh honey, it's sooooooooo much worse than that.

Sia wanted to make a movie about an autistic girl that manages to connect to people/feel safe and confident through music. So far, nothing outrageous, just a simple concept that would obviously put Sia's music front and center while doing something nice and educating people on autism.

There was controversy about her not casting an autistic actress as it would have been nice representation, but she could have totally gotten away with that since, come on, hollywood hasn't even figured out Rain Man isn't exactly true to life, they're not ready to have an autistic person playing an autistic character. Baby steps.

The real problem started when Sia started promoting the "charity/support group" that was helping "educate" her on the topic to make the movie. The "charity" in question was Autism Speaks - which is absolutely HATED by the autistic community for things like:

1 - Spreading the myth that autism is a mental illness that one can develop/catch like the freaking flue and potentially be cured of, instead of a neurotype, aka something starts in the woomb and cannot be "cured" because to do that you'd need to replace someone's entire nervous system, which is impossible.

2 - Using that myth to get outrageous amounts of money from people so they "search for a cure" - that doesn't exist and will never exist because curing autism is biologically impossible, AND despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of autistic people don't even want to be "cured" (plus, since said "cure" would essentially mean giving the person a new brain, it leads to the question of "Would I even be the same person, or would that just kill and replace me?")

3 - Using the myth of "We don't know what causes autism" (we do, it's genetic) to, of course, get MORE money from people so they can "do research to find the missing puzzle piece" (if you ever see autistic people complaining about a puzzle piece being used to represent the condition, that's why, it was started by Autism Speak's massive disinformation campains).

4 - Falsely "confirming" things like soy milk cause autism with one of the world's most ridiculous "research", losing only to "vaccines totally make kids autistic, buy MY vaccine instead, guys, I am totally not an unbelievably biased person, it's ALL the other doctors/scientists lying to you. GIVE ME MONEY!"

5 - Pushing the narrative of "autism is inherently a tragedy" to distract from the fact that all the money they waste on stupid shit could be used to help autistic people and their families. Instead, they focus on creating more and more panic, making parents in particular despair even more - to the point that one of their "awareness videos" includes a mother talking about how she wants to murder her autistic daughter and then kill herself... while sitting right next to said daughter.

6 - Promoting ABA "therapy" - which was created by the same guy responsible for the attrocity that is gay conversion "therapy." Both have led to unbelievably high rates of confirmed PTSD and suicidal ideation in patients (victims), and ABA in particular has been compared to literal dog training. Very fitting since it was created by a guy who famously did not believe autistic people truly counted as thinking, feeling human beings, and said as much several times. Despite that, it is still praised by some utter bastards because "it makes the patients act less autistic when they're not crying in the corner or trying to jump out a window"

So yeah, working with these guys is a genuinely horrible thing to do since they're basically a scam/hate group pretending to be a charity - and people were STILL willing to give Sia the benefit of the doubt, since Autism Speak uses all their resources to make sure they're the first thing people see when looking up how to help autistic people.

Lots of Sia's fans, both autistic and allistic, warned her repeatedly, politely, that she needed to supporting them IMMEDIATELY as their goal was the exact opposite of the one she claimed to have - aka raise awareness through an accurate portrail of autism. People were even kind enough to name organizations like ASAN as replacements to help her fix any damage done to the project.

And instead of being a decent human being, Sia decided to cry on twitter about how the mean retar-I mean, autistics were bullying her even when she was so kindly using them for her vanity project.

Because yes, that's how the movie turned out. An unwatcheable piece of garbage, with the autistic "character" being so fucking bad even the people who actively use "autistic" as insulted being offended on our behalf - and of course, she was used just a prop to show how awesome Sia's character was.

Seriously, it was so bad the actress playing the autistic girl was sobbing in between scenes because she knew how it was horrible and she didn't want to insult anyone, but Sia is literally her godmother and helped her career by putting her in nearly all her music videos so she felt obligated to go along with it.

So yeah, fuck Sia and fuck Autism Speaks.

[autball]

If your first instinct is to dismiss this on the grounds of “but that would be really messed up,” you’re about halfway to the point.

Keep going.

-

My oldest doesn’t do a lot of eye contact, which was always fine by me because I’m not that into it either. It’s not at all painful for me with my kids, we just never really needed it because we find connection in so many other ways.

Then my youngest came along. They want ALL the eye contact, lol. They really need it for connection. It sometimes takes conscious reminders to myself to meet their gaze because I’m not used to doing it, but I’m happy to make the extra effort to meet my child’s needs in this area.

Can you imagine, though, if I had instead been like, “No one else here needs eye contact, and it’s more work for me, so you’re just gonna have to learn to do things our way to fit in?” Most people would have no trouble seeing how damaging that would be to my child, and they would rightfully want to call me out for it.

Because most people can relate to my child’s need for eye contact.

The only reason non-Autistic ways of being have become the norm is because there are more of them than us. It’s not because they’re actually better, it’s just that NTs have been the ones in charge of making up the rules since forever. 

So what if Autistic people were the majority? What if *we’d* been in charge of making up the social rules and public spaces and developmental timelines all this time? How would Allistic people be treated in this parallel universe? And how do you think Allistic children would handle being forced to live in a world not made for them?

How many people in that universe would actually *encourage* me to deny my youngest child eye contact? 

Y’know, to prepare them for the real world.

(Image description in Alt Text.)

[pleaseletmeexist]

[devinsturk]

A Manifesto for the Liberated Autistic

(written by one Autistic person!)

Communication is a human right!  We demand access to whatever form of communication we choose, including unconditional access to Augmented and Alternative Communication technologies.

We demand autonomy over our own bodies and rightful decision-making powers over our own lives as we see fit.

We demand freedom from police brutality and all forms of abuse, including seclusion and physical and chemical restraint in schools and hospitals, and we demand freedom from all forms of violence, including filicide.

We demand that the shameful Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts—and all other institutions like it—be shut down.  #StopTheShock

ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) is conversion therapy for autistics.  We demand freedom from all oppressive “interventions” or “treatments” and quack “cures” for Autism which seek to rob us of what—and who—we are.

We demand unsegregated access to an education alongside our peers.

We demand access to our own communities and our own cultures, and we demand access to knowledge of our people’s history!

We demand meaningful employment and an end to sub-minimum wage for all disabled people.

The way we move is political, and we demand freedom from all pressures to “behave” in accordance with neurotypical standards.  Embrace the stim!  

We must commit to cross-disability solidarity and cross-movement solidarity.

#ActuallyAutistic people are the REAL experts on Autism.

[blueboldandbright]

More decoration for my battle jacket, someday I’ll actually post a photo of it

[itty-bitty-playhouse]

Oooo yay time to put one of my obsessions into agere stuff cause who's gonna stop me!!! :D Time to show regression in a way I usually don't that's just as helpful!!

I think A.B.A. deserves to regress; she wouldn't admit that or actively try to but she does and I love it.

I know she woke up next to Paracelsus loosely lying on a bed- it's queen-sized cause he's big- and just cuddling with him. They just cuddle while the clingy baby(she says she's still a big girl) babbles about loving Para and how he makes the bad thoughts go away while chewing her nails. Para just lets her babble, occasionally reminding her not to bite them so much, and telling her it's okay.

AND ITS JUST A NORMAL MORNING FOR THEM!! It's not weird and out of the blue; Para definitely doesn't mind or care and A.B.A. would fall asleep again, wake up, make some food, and go out with Para for the day!

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

fuck ABA

that’s all thank you for listening

[egolifting]

[ID: An Etsy listing for the shop ShaneIsCreationsLLC with a picture of three badges. The first badge is red and says "stop, planned ignoring in progress, thanks for helping to ignore attention seeking behavior." The second is yellow and says "Need help!" The third is green and says "all clear, OK to approach." The name of the product for sale is "Behavior Support Badge Cards, Communication Cards, Special Education Behavior Management, ABA Therapy Materials, Visual Communication Tools."]

found this on etsy when i was looking for AAC communication cards for myself. i guess the new aba therapy is making autistic people wear badges that tell everyone to ignore them. i wonder how many people would accept a parent or teacher doing this to a neurotypical child? an adult doing this to their partner? a manager doing this to an employee?

[clownrecess]

(TW: Talk of ABA, trauma, abuse, self offing, etc.)

ABA is abusive whether you want to admit it or not. It just is.

It doesn't "depend on the therapist", it is abusive by nature. The abuse and trauma inducing experiences are deeply rooted in it.

"Oh, well ours is basically just some OT and speech", that's not ABA, then. Whilst yes, OT and speech do very much have the ability to be abusive, ABA always is. A combination of some in home OT and speech is not ABA.

So what is ABA? ABA stands for applied behavioural analysis. It is a "therapy" that parents of autistic people are usually pushed to do. And often times, the parents agree! Whether that's because the insurance covers it, or because the school told them to, or whatever, they tend to accept it.

I was one of the people who's parents accepted it.

I was in ABA for a little over a year, I would have been in it much longer but eventually I was taken out because I threatened to off myself if I remained in it. And this didnt work immediately, I had been threatening this for months. I'm not sure why it finally worked.

ABA likes to trick you at the start. My therapists in particular referred to this tricking as the "honeymoon phase". In this phase, they would act like my friends. They made me trust them.

We would talk about our interests, and play games together.

It felt safe, and I liked it!

Until it changed, that is. About two months into ABA, they stopped being like my friends.

It went from me happily playing chess with him, to him yelling at me, a child hiding under a table, because I didn't say what he wanted me to say.

And this of course evolved too. And I was further traumatized.

I was tricked, and then abused by the hands of so called therapists.

It has been around 2, almost 3 years since this. I am still extremely frightened by anything remotely related to those experiences.

I had a panic attack in a water park because somebody looked **slightly** like one of them.

Please don't put your kid in ABA. I don't care how helpful you think it'll be.

[wheelie-sick]

things that are ABA therapy:

✅ Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy done by an ABA therapist

things that are not ABA therapy:

❌ being bullied for being autistic

❌ being abused for being autistic

❌ experiencing trauma because you are autistic

❌ society as a whole encouraging masking

ABA therapy refers to a specific form of therapy. stop commenting on posts about ABA therapy saying you were "basically in ABA therapy because....." no! you weren't! it's bad but not the same! ABA is not a generic term to describe any sort of abuse or treatment for being autistic. when ABA survivors are talking about our specific experiences we are looking to connect or educate about those specific experiences. if you didn't have those experiences then stay quiet! you don't have to add on to every post talking about yourself, sometimes you can just silently reblog!

[catgirl-kaiju]

[mac-n-cheese-flavored-arson]

There are a lot of reasons that aba therapy is abusive and ineffective but one of the big ones is that instead of redirecting actually harmful dangerous behaviours while filling the need that they're filling, autistic people are just abused until we can mask well enough and the behaviours stop

I have two examples here, tw for autistic self injury

I used to bite myself, I did it every single day and there were years where I had a permanent bite mark on my arm, I would do it so hard and so often that it caused open wounds and then I would pick the scabs and keep biting, there were multiple times as a kid I got infections from this but I needed it to regulate my sensory issues and anxiety. I also chewed on metal or plastic constantly, sometimes choking on it, destroying my teeth, and cutting up my mouth from the sharp ends. In highschool an autistic friend introduced me to chewy necklaces and bought me one from stimtastic and being able to redirect my biting towards things meant to bite ended me biting myself or chewing on dangerous things almost immediately

My younger brother also used to hit his head against the wall and there was once that he gave himself a concussion from doing it too hard for too long, and bruises and knots were extremely common. My parents assumed it was tantrums and punished him until he stopped and he started having daily meltdowns instead because he was severely unregulated. My grandma started filling up a two liter soda bottle with water and giving that to him every time he was hitting his head against the wall until he started asking for the two liter instead! No more injuries, no more pain, and no more daily meltdowns! Eventually he was able to redirect this to banging his head against his bed which was even safer while filling the same sensory need

We needed to be taught not to do our original stims, repeated open wounds and infections and repeated head injuries was genuinely something that couldn't continue forever, and replacing those stims with things that were physically safe was the best possible outcome for that situation! But in aba therapy, both of the safer stims we started doing would still be punished and we'd still be abused for them just because they're weird or not socially acceptable.

Aba therapy is meant to make autistics appear nuerotypical but it's not actually meant to help us regulate sensory issues or cope with things that are distressing, sometimes redirecting autistic behaviours is absolutely necessary but punishing a behaviour that's meeting a need without allowing an alternative doesn't work

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

questions i want everyone who say “all ABA is abusive” to know how to answer—especially non ABA survivors:

to be fair! i 100% agree ABA can be very abusive. sure some of the field have changed many throughout the years, but much of the field has not. what each clinic bill under “ABA” may be vastly different, some may not even be ABA!

but i think there is more nuance to “all ABA is abusive and every parent who put child in ABA is abusive” conversation.

i believe you have to understand something to critique it.

these questions are largely targeted towards non ABA survivors because i see a lot of non ABA survivors regurgitating things from other non ABA survivors. these questions may be triggering for ABA survivors who have trauma from ABA.

i encourage non ABA survivors to use own words to answer these questions if possible.

so here goes:

1. what is ABA? what are its fundamental principles, and how it concretely achieve that?

for example, what are discrete trial training? what are naturalistic learning? give example of how that can look like between an ABA therapist & the receiver.

2. who is ABA targeted at?

because while autistics are targeted, there is often specific population of autistics. who are they? and ABA is also given to more than autistics. who are they?

3. what is abusive about ABA / how can ABA be abusive? can you name multiple reasons?

4. can you give concrete examples of that?

for example, the common saying ABA promotes masking. what does that look like between an ABA therapist & receiver?

5. can any ABA be done without that? if yes, what will that ABA look like? if no, why not?

6. goals of ABA, goals set for the ABA receiver. can they ever be beneficial? we’re talking solely about goals, we are setting side the methods to achieve those goals later.

if yes, what are some examples? if no, why not?

for example, masking again. the ability to mask, learning how to mask. for a white person? for a Black person? for other BIPOC?

7. can ABA (or anything!) be both beneficial and harmful? life changing and abusive? why or why not?

8. in current state of world,

because we can talk about “in an ideal world” all we want, but reality is ABA is happening right now, families are struggling right now.

8 a. what are some alternatives to ABA? are these resources as readily available as ABA?

think insurance coverage, governmental recognition, school coverage, clinician availability, cost, single parent status, location (esp rural areas and other less discussed countries), other marginalized identities

think… “levels of dysfunction” for lack of a better word. like a child with frequent violent destructive meltdowns. a child with violent “behaviors.”

if a parent put their child in these alternative services and not ABA, does the government recognize these alternative services as “intervention?” will child protective services or equivalent?

8 b. do these resources focus on the same/similar areas as ABA? idk how to phrase this question but hear me out. some ABA focuses on developing life skills & adaptive functioning skills (what are them?). do these services work on them, for example?

9. in a better world, what can be alternatives to ABA?

10. how may ABA look different for different populations? how may ABA expectations differ for different populations?

how may societal expectations differ for different populations? how may consequences of not fitting in the societal expectations differ for different populations?

a level 1 autistic? a level 3 autistic? a high support needs person who can’t independently do basic ADLs, who don’t understand safety? a nonspeaking person? someone with “problematic behaviors”? someone with motor troubles? a non autistic person with other developmental disabilities? someone with an intellectual disability or global developmental delay? kids? adults? BIPOC?

11. add on bc i suddenly remembered and am too lazy to re number the entire thing, are ABA and early intervention the same/similar or different things? explain. explain beyond target age groups, focus on what each service do.

who are eligible for early intervention? can you receive that without a diagnosis?

edit to add, 12. can ABA be reformed? why or why not?

finally, 13. have you ever talked to an ABA survivor about ABA? directly in a 1 on 1 conversation? group setting? or saw content by said ABA survivor about ABA? have you intentionally seeker out content by ABA survivors on ABA?

here are just questions on top of my head. i am sure i missed many.

again, these questions are not to convince you all ABA are actually not abusive (bc uh, i don’t believe that either), but to add nuance to “ABA = abuse” conversation so we can be better activists.

here is a post i wrote about bringing nuance to ABA

[factoidfactory]

Autism Acceptance Month Fact #20

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is one of the first and most common interventions recommended for autistic children.

However, most autistic adults say that ABA is traumatic and unethical, treating autistics as a problem that needs to be solved by teaching autistics that they cannot be themselves if they want to be accepted.