This week I focused on the contention surrounding ABA as a legitimate resource for autistic communities. Contention surrounding ABA protocol continues to nuance autism advocacy over time, especially within the division between autistic self-advocated and non-autistic parents (Rottier and Gernsbacher, 2020). During the 1990s, non-autistic parents and professionals spearheaded initial autism advocacy movements. The goals of related projects revolved around obtaining screening, early intervention, and finding a “cure” for autism. The focus on medicalizing neurobiological differences illustrates a key component of past and current rhetoric affiliated with non-autistic parents (Baker and Lang, 2017). ABA fits neatly within this category. Reviewing the website for the ABA company I worked for, I was immediately struck by the neurotypical language. Their commitment to “utilizing the most effective … teaching methodologies to bring about meaningful change in the lives of those we support” holds overtly saviorist overtones (Cultivate, 2022).\u00a0 Continuing my literature review, I found a variety of work by autistic scholars pointing out the problematic nature of enforcing neurotypical frameworks on individuals with neurodiverse identities (Feinberg and Vacca, 2000; Lynch, 2021; Nolan and McBride; 2015; Sandoval-Norton, 2019). Practices such as 40 hours of weekly programming, IQ measures of efficacy, prompt generalization, and downregulation of stemming behavior highlight particularly contentious issues. I plan to cite these works in my annotated bibliography and use them as a key component of my second art piece. Autism activism showcases the resistance of autistic scholars against the medicalization of autism. One historic clash between the Non-Autistic parent movement and Autistic self-advocacy groups featured autistic resistance against a New York billboard advertising Autism clinics which depicted autistic children as “being held hostage by a psychiatric disease”. This dispute embodies the conflict between neurotypical and neurodiverse frameworks. Over the upcoming weeks, I plan to expand upon this research.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Refrences<\/p>\n
Baker, J. P., & Lang, B. (2017). Eugenics and the origins of autism. <\/span>Pediatrics<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>140<\/span><\/i>(2).<\/span><\/p>\n Cultivate Behavioral Health and Education (2022)\u00a0Who We Are.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Feinberg, E., & Vacca, J. (2000). The drama and trauma of creating policies on autism: Critical issues to consider in the new millennium. <\/span>Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>15<\/span><\/i>(3), 130-137.<\/span><\/p>\n Lynch, C. L. (2021, August 13). <\/span>Invisible abuse: Aba and the things only autistic people can see<\/span><\/i>. The Autism Spectrum According to Autistic People. Retrieved May 8, 2022, from <\/span>https:\/\/neuroclastic.com\/invisible-abuse-aba-and-the-things-only-autistic-people-can-see\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Nolan, J., & McBride, M. (2015). Embodied semiosis: Autistic \u2018stimming\u2019 as sensory praxis. In<\/span> International <\/span><\/i>handbook of semiotics (pp. 1069-1078). Springer, Dordrecht.<\/span><\/p>\n Rottier, H., & Gernsbacher, M. A. (2020). Autistic adult and non-autistic parent advocates: Bridging the divide. In <\/span>Disability alliances and allies<\/span><\/i>. Emerald Publishing Limited.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This week I focused on the contention surrounding ABA as a legitimate resource for autistic communities. Contention surrounding ABA protocol continues to nuance autism advocacy over time, especially within the division between autistic self-advocated and non-autistic parents (Rottier and Gernsbacher, 2020). During the 1990s, non-autistic parents and professionals spearheaded initial autism advocacy movements. The goals … Continue reading “Progress Notes: Week 12”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":15,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-36","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2022-skarris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2022-skarris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2022-skarris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2022-skarris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2022-skarris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2022-skarris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2022-skarris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2022-skarris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}