Are there two sides to the ABA coin?
Trigger warning: we will dive deep into the ABA discussion, and you might not like where this goes. But, if you do make it to the end, you’ll be glad that you did.
The other day, I was looking for something over on LinkedIn. My feed there is populated with two general topics - legal / forensic science and autism. At the top of the stack was an advert for an upcoming seminar in Ireland that linked to a blog post written by one of the presenters. The post, Alternatives to ABA from Evaleen Whelton, is quite typical of the anti-ABA position. You can read it here.
I do have to admit something here. Having spent time under an ABA regime, I am not a fan. This is largely informed by my own experience. But, I keep my ear to the ground. I’m keenly interested in what others have to say on the issue. Indeed, it is a hot issue. It has been framed on social media as “actually autistic” people on the anti-ABA side and “autism moms” on the pro-ABA side.
I didn’t pay much attention to the debate. I’m old and have my opinions. Nevertheless, I began to check my assumptions when I started to see the “actually autistic” crowd start to bully people in the comments of their posts. These mean people attacked at the slightest positive mention of ABA. Some of the comments were quite hateful.
Me being me, I wanted to know more about why parents of autistic children were so positive about ABA. Could a whole population be so thoroughly duped? It was within this inquiry that I came across the IG profiles of Eileen Lamb (@theautismcafe) and Tiffany Hammond (@fidgets.and.fries). Both are autistic parents of autistic children.
The image above, from Eileen Lamb came with the accompanying caption, “Please, #ActuallyAutistic, understand this. Parents are not the enemy. I’m truly sorry if your parents were unkind to you, ignorant of what you needed, but the world is wide and long, and others’ mileage varies. Taking out your anger on parents who are doing their best to give their autistic children a happy and fulfilling life isn’t going to make your own life better.”
Boom!
That black/white thinking that often comes from autistic minds. She’s got a powerful message. Just because my experience with ABA was rather shite doesn’t mean that her kids are going through the same things as I did. Her descriptions of what she’s trying to overcome leads me to a profound empathy for her. It also leads me to a more nuanced viewpoint on ABA.
Then there’s Tiffany Hammond. Tiffany’s feed is some next-level thinking.
“This group doesn’t respect individuals and their
unique lives and stories, how is it going to
respect community? How is it going to fight FOR
community? A community is made of individual lives,
individual stories that make up a whole. A
collection of many, with individual, complex
histories and contexts.”
“You cannot be an effective community leader and/or
advocate and not know this. And honestly, many
Autistic self advocates don’t know this. They are
leaders of groups. “Leaders” that are teaching
others that communities consist of those with
similar life experiences to their own that require
solutions that will only benefit them and others
like them. They cannot see lives past their own.
It’s their way or no way at all.”
“ABA is not the problem. It is a symptom.
Of a society that is compliant based and hellbent on
maintaining a hierarchy of bodies it deems worthy
and unworthy.”
Like I said, mind blown.
I bought Tiffany’s collection of essays for a very reasonable price considering how much effort went into collecting these powerful messages. You can find it here. It’s nothing short of amazing. In a just world, it would be required reading for every college program on autism, every special education teacher preparation program, and in high school English classes. It’s that good. It’s that powerful. It’s that relevant. It’s that important.
In doing my own education, I found two incredibly powerful voices.
I appreciate what Evaleen Whelton is trying to accomplish in Ireland. Evaleen, and others like her around the world, have big hearts and are trying to bring compassion back into the discussion. They’re advocating for people like me to have a voice. They’re trying to say that ABA is likely not the best way to help autistic people in our modern society. But, as Tiffany Hammond notes, ABA is not the problem, it’s a symptom. Tiffany calls it a leaf on the tree. Tiffany is more interested in addressing the roots of the problem than the leaves on the tree. So am I.
I’ve written on those roots from my perspective. I’ve written about eugenics, or scientific racism, as the root. But, it turns out, I’ve been writing about a branch of the tree.
“I want to challenge your current thinking. It was to
bring in a new way to look at how systemic this is.
That if you are no longer in ABA or have never set
foot in an ABA program, why do you still mask? Why do
you still burnout from muting yourself to navigate
this world?
Cause ABA isn’t the root of the problem. But pointing
this out doesn’t mean I would prefer we did nothing
to reduce harm, nothing to address centers that hurt
others.”
Evaleen’s proposals won’t stop the next Stephon Watts from being shot by the police. Fixing the system will. Evaleen’s ideas won’t help Lorraine Spencer feel any better about letting her son go out on his own. They’ll do nothing to inform and educate the neighbors of Tanya Manning-Yarde.
I was already partially in the systemic fix camp before coming across Eileen and Tiffany’s work. As I said, I was in the branches in my focus on eugenics. Now, thanks to their influence, I’m down in the roots.
Will you join me, us, in tackling the system. Will you reconsider your position?