The founder of ABA said the following about Autistic kids:
“You see, you start pretty much from scratch when you work with an autistic child. You have a person in the physical sense – they have hair, a nose and a mouth – but they are not people in the psychological sense...."
"One way to look at the job of helping autistic kids is to see it as a matter of constructing a person. You have the raw materials, but you have to build the person.”
Lovaas strongly believed in intense behavioral modification interventions, that included harsh aversive techniques such as withholding touch and attention, isolation, and even giving electric shock "therapy"...
in 1976 the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health took away his funding “due to complaints of excessive use of corporal punishment against children.
So... when people say "modern ABA is better" or "not my ABA" - I ask HOW can something founded on these HORRIBLE principals be anything but harmful to Autistic people?
I believe untraumatized Autistic people exist, though many are likely undiagnosed because the diagnostic manuals used to determine if a person is Autistic is a weakness model - based on Autistic people in distress.
No good can come of grouping people ONLY by their weaknesses.
So the medical gatekeepers, who Autistic people rely on in order to receive the diagnosis, tend to be very unaware of what Autistic people in good mental health even look like.
Because all they talk about is our weaknesses. They've never bothered to care about what success can look like in Autistic people.
A meltdown is beyond an autistic person’s control. Their brain is overwhelmed & can’t take anymore. They might start crying or fall to the floor because they’re just mentally done - completely overwhelmed.
The fight, flight, freeze response has been triggered, almost like a panic attack kind of a feeling. It’s a horrible feeling.
You can also shut down, and just implode in on yourself instead of having an outward explosion.
A shutdown can actually be worse and more painful for an autistic person. At least with a meltdown, you have a bit of a catharsis at the end and sometimes can feel better after.
People don’t realize how much sensory processing issues can vary from day to day depending on a number of factors (mostly how tired/overwhelmed/overworked my brain is).
For example, on a bad day the grocery store can be physically painful, but on a good day (if I’m well rested and haven’t had a lot of sensory exposure recently) I can walk in and out of the store without pain.
So it can be frustrating to get comments like “you didn’t need your sunglasses last time” or “are you sure you really need that?” and “can’t you tough it out?”
Not that it’s anyone’s business but, yes, I need my sensory protection, otherwise I wouldn’t be putting it on.
There’s a thing that happens on @Twitter & it’s disturbing. People take offense with something someone has said. Then they go around sending DMs to people - demanding that they Unfollow the person who said whatever they decided was offensive.
If someone refuses to unfollow OR supports the person in question, they may be at risk too.
Childish playground nonsense. Sometimes it feels like we’re back in middle school.
It really bothers me when someone acts like I “owe them something”. I’ve never been one to live my life based on the expectations of others.
I also tend to let people make assumptions about me, and generally don’t bother to correct people when they get it wrong because - it’s not my problem when people jump to conclusions.
Maybe it’s because I don’t care what people think of me, but people who assume wrong can leave.
I’ve been misunderstood my entire life. I don’t have time for people who are intent on misunderstanding me. #ActuallyAutistic