In Response to Skepticism

I'm writing in response to the skeptical responses to the open letter to the parents of autistic children. You have permission to publish this wherever you want.

I was around fairly close to the time when CIBRA was forming, and have held telephone conversations with its founder (whose name escapes me). She is a real person. Her son is a real person. I could hear him in the background throughout the conversation. She was trying to hold a telephone conversation and make sure he was calm at the same time. This took a good deal of obvious effort on her part.

Allegations that she is not real, that her son is not real, and that this does not really happen to people are belied by my communications with them, by the communications of other autistic people I know with them, and by the experiences of a number of autistic people I know personally. Including me. Including others, including autistic people who've received ABA in early childhood from prominent people. We're not a bunch of people out to make trouble for the hell of it. This stuff is real because we're real.

Amanda Baggs

The ABA Letter, part 1
The ABA Letter, part 2
Reaction from ABA expert and commentary from Bob King
Read other parents' testimonies delineating the dangers of an ABA program.

One of these ABA "therapists" finally realized the irreparable harm she was doing to children, and wrote Why I Left ABA.

If this story is true, Applied Behavior Analysis is a cult.

Resources by and for autistic-spectrum people. Don't fall for disempowering bullshit from Auti$m $peaks - come here and speak for yourself.

Ballastexistenz Thoughtful and passionate blog about autism and disability.

Return to Politics

Click here to go back to where you were