Thread by @ekverstania

[THREAD] Principles, values, rules, (dis)obedience and (non)conformance

Children have a natural sense of justice.

The world is complex and messy.

Life is often not fair.

If we expect children to pragmatically tolerate injustices, we should never teach them to do so by pretending that these injustices are fair.

"I don't want to change him, I just want to help him fit in better with the world."

Sounds pragmatic. Some creatures survive like this. They're made for it.

But the people who typically use those words are... odd. I've spoken to many of them. They often assume some terrible things, and it shows in how they try to 'help' little children fit in.

The first thing about them is that they are terribly cynical about people's motivations and people's capacity to accept others, in a manner that is not borne out by actual evidence.

It is this assumption, the assumption that people cannot learn to accept others, that underlies both gay #ConversionTherapy and Applied Behaviour Analysis (#ABA).

"Both [gay conversion therapy and Applied Behaviour Analysis] were based on the same fundamental view: that it’s easier to change a child’s behavior than it is to destigmatize that behavior in society–whether it’s limp wrists or flapping hands."

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1465076124371894274?t=aoQMfm7bR_saeyradUEWrA&s=19

The assumption has been proven wrong. While many LGBTQ+ people do face discrimination throughout the world, the very fact that some countries are actually BANNING gay #ConversionTherapy, endorsing gay marriages and electing LGBTQ+ officials shows that acceptance is possible.

It is in the interest of those who profit from ABA to ensure that #AutismAwareness is done in such a way that autistic people are seen as unacceptable if they are very visibly disabled.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1501257109442289669?t=dr_tRBBtQolQbIxp319Nxg&s=19

When the idea of #AutismAcceptance pushed by actual autistic people began to gain traction, the #AutismAwareness crowd (most notably Autism Speaks) adjusted its message accordingly.

Their first article on the subject, apparently written to draw traffic to their site for the search term 'autism acceptance', encouraged parents to resign themselves to the fact that their child is autistic ("a sense of acceptance") without actually accepting that autism is OK.

Around the same time, they changed their mission statement, dropping the overt pursuit of a cure, whilst still focusing on treatment.

Many autistic activists saw this as progress. What it actually was, was more of a change in marketing strategy.

This marketing strategy plays itself out in how modern ABA therapists and parents who endorse ABA talk about autistic children.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1501253591822049292?t=dr_tRBBtQolQbIxp319Nxg&s=19

Just as the acceptance of gay people pushes gay #ConversionTherapy into obsolescence, so widespread anti-ableism and the acceptance of visibly different people with high support needs living their best life in the community would undermine AUTISTIC conversion therapy (ABA).

Banning #ConversionTherapy for LGBTQ+ people became possible because these people began to gain social and political power.

Perpetuating ABA requires that those who profit from it must undermine the agency of the people upon whom they impose it.

They do this by creating fake problems, for which they provide the solutions.

One such fake problem is the problem of #ProfoundAutism as defined by The Lancet Commission, where the Semel Institute, an ABA promotor tracing its origins directly to Lovaas, plays a leading role.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1469302091516633096?t=xV5YmdmQfZDrSqi1z5zU8w&s=19

Over and over and over, the Lancet Commission reinforces its 'solution' to the fake problem. The solution is ABA.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1480351125664587777?t=GeVD_evUiUsw6-Xkrn5bvQ&s=19

With a cure for autism no longer officially on the cards for some of the funders, the money is to be made in the perpetual motion machine of autism treatments for people who cannot communicate their objections.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1479370844870688770?t=GeVD_evUiUsw6-Xkrn5bvQ&s=19

Communication by the most vulnerable autistic people of all is the single biggest threat to the richest and most powerful roleplayers in the ABA industry.

If society begins to accept autistic people who cannot rely on speech to communicate, and if society begins to accept HOW they communicate -- all the different ways they say work for them -- ABA becomes obsolete.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1333798307034923014?t=GeVD_evUiUsw6-Xkrn5bvQ&s=19

Imagine a fraction of the billions of dollars, pounds, rupees, rand and every other currency currently katchinging in the ABA industry throughout the world were invested in promoting the words of ABA survivors who have gained access to nuanced AAC.

Yes, people can be dreadful. They can be bullies and warmongers.

But people can also respond with a sense of righteous indignation and compassion and learn to accept others, in spite of what the ABA industry wants us to believe about human nature.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1501255221770473475?t=GeVD_evUiUsw6-Xkrn5bvQ&s=19

The second thing about this ableist industry is that they do not teach 'fitting in' from the perspective of either disguise for the sake of safety, or for consciously but temporarily changing oneself to show deference for cultural differences or situational demands.

Instead, they teach the target behaviours as normal.

Tomorrow I will explain what this means by way of an analogy, so that the problem becomes clear.

Meanwhile, enjoy this random picture of a steam engine repair workshop, where people aren't wearing hard hats. (Maybe because if one of the steam engines falls on your head, a hard hat won't help you much?)