Thread by @GymRobcom

1/10 I’ve heard the ABA community aren’t happy with @AsIAmIreland over their recent stance on ABA “and related therapies” but that the PBS community are happy.

2/10 ABA and PBS are the same thing. This is why releasing a statement taking a stance on “other related therapies” but not actually naming PBS/social skills training is completely pointless and @AsIAmIreland are aware of this.

3/10 PBS therapists ARE ABA therapists under a different title. Their qualifications, backgrounds and methods are all based on ABA.
To become a qualified PBS therapist you have to do ABA first.

4/10 PBS still has physical/chemical restraint, seclusion/isolation, planned ignoring etc., but hey they have reward charts and chocolate bars too so it must be better 🤨

5/10 It took @AsIAmIreland nearly 8 years to take their stance on ABA and they didn’t post it on social media, people need to speak up so we don’t have to wait close to a decade while autistic people keep suffering at the hands of outdated ineffective and uninformed therapies.

6/10 I feel personal shame on behalf of the autistic community that it’s an autistic led charity and autistic led organisations collaborating with them that refuse to take a stronger stance.

How can you stand over a stance that allows these therapies to continue unscrutinised?

7/10 A reminder that ABA, PBS, and social skills training happen in both adult and child services daily all over Ireland, and the therapists that deliver these have a substantial amount of influence despite not having any education on what autism actually is.

8/10 I’ve seen more ABA therapists call out ABA than ‘Neuro affirmative allies’.
If you’re reading this thinking you’ve done enough because you shared something about ECT or you liked an #ActuallyAutistic post then pat yourself on the back and move on to your next vocation.

9/10 ABA/PBS isn’t going to go away because you sat on the fence.

If you don’t know what ABA/PBS is, follow #ActuallyAutistic advocates that talk about it regularly @AnnMemmott @KieranRose7 @abaukdiscussion @AusomeIreland @commaficionado @NeuroRebel @ekverstania

10/10 And look maybe there is a place in the world for ABA/behaviourism, but it would be much more efficient trying to teach billionaires empathy than teaching already empathetic autistic people how to “lie hide true feelings, sweep things under the rug, and manipulate”.