Talking with Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai About Autism and Mental Health
We talked with researcher Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai about the overlap of mental health and autism, the evidence-backed tendency of autistic people to be LGBT+, and much more.
Autism
The Troubled History of ABA Therapy: Talking With Author Anne Borden King
If you separate ABA therapy from reward and punishment and token economies, you don’t have any ABA left because the entire structure of ABA is based on that.
All Autistic People Have Value, Something RFK Jr. and Profound Autism Parents Refuse to Understand
RFK Jr. has gone full “useless eaters” about autistic people. Seeing autistic people as burdens is straight up eugenics, and yet Profound Autism parents are delighted. Let’s discuss why “profound autism” harms rather than helps autistic people and their families.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dangers of Misunderstanding Autism
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently announced that he would find the cause of autism in five months and “eliminate those exposures.” This kind of deeply disturbing statement can lead to real harm.
I’m Autistic, And Believe Me, It’s A Lot Better Than Measles
Vaccines don’t cause autism. But even if they did, is being like me really a fate worse than death?
Busting Anti-Vaccine Myths While Supporting Autistic People
We need to be careful about pro-vaccine arguments when autism is involved—because when we say “there is NO evidence linking vaccines to autism” without adding “and fear of autism hurts autistic people,” then we’re actually contributing to negative stereotypes about autistic people.
Understanding What Disability Policy Means, Within Education
How can education and disability policy best serve disabled learners, and also support those learners and their families?
How ProPublica Missed Crucial Points About ABA Therapy
Why it is so disappointing to see ProPublica’s recent feature promoting hefty insurance mandates for Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), given the opposition by autism and autistic-led organizations to the practice.
How Wikipedia Systematically Misleads People About Autism
Wikipedia’s editing is nominally consensus-based, so when a subject is objectively contentious—as is the case with autism—that editing gets tricky.
The Complicated Reality of Having a Neurotypical Sibling
I’d like to share my story on what it’s like having a neurotypical sibling, and how difficult that was. Autism was never the problem, it was the lack of understanding that broke the relationship.