Labour #ActuallyAutistic

[Potato25]

Just been shown this by a friend, it's a pinned tweet on the Labour Autistic Network.

Looks like Labour are encouraging people to ID as autistic as well as women. It shouldn't really be a 'do you identify as' question...

I clicked on the link to see this: 'This information sharing agreement has been drawn up under the umbrella of Labour Autistic Network, an organisation of members and supporters of the Labour Party who identify on the autistic spectrum or neurodivergent.

Dunno about naught but I call it plain autism
Or autistic spectrum. I don't in speech use condition or disorder, i use ASD in shorthand on here just because that's what it was when DS1 was diagnosed.

I'm autistic. I'm anti ABA. Very, very anti ABA and anti 'cure'.

Note when I say all of this it applies to me and my family. Others are free to do or say as they like - but I'll always feel ABA is abusive.

Sorry naught I didn't mean to imply I object to what you call yourself. I have no right to decide that! I just see different people with different opinions and try to weigh them up. I would say ABA is not a cure and i hadn't heard it referred to as such before. You can't cure autism but you can provide intervention to overcome or lessen some of the disabling aspect. And I've realise I worded that poorly in my last post. Eg Speech and language therapy - without it my ds was very limited in his speech and language. Intensive support (a specialist unit) means he can now communicate much more effectively which makes life a lot easier for him. ABA seems to be just obedience training and I don't 'get it' but a lot of people seem to swear by it.

Bishop you are indeed on my wave lenght. I dont really even call it spectrum i just call it autism, and yes ASD if short had is required.

whineberry i implore you do to some research in to what ABA is and the philosphy behind it. its scary. I know in the uk and ireland it is seen as play based behevior conditioning, but thats not what it was designed for or as. Even if you just find the bit in the chris packham documentry, chris goes to visit an ABA school in america, hes shown a clip of a child recieving ABA, he says its uncomfortable, well my reaction was even worse i honestly couldnt watch as an autistic person i could not watch what ABA was doing to the child. He then spoke to a princiapal of the ABA school and i quote "we use ABA to cure Eradicate autism, you would be neglectful if a child had cancer and you didnt not try to cure the child, we believe that ABA is the cure for autism" so yes ok if you want to eradicate and cure autism leys eradicate all the other disablities too.

I was 21, having battled my way through school, college and nade it to the first year of uni when all my personal devoloped coping mechinisms fell apart and i could no longer "hide" my autism, wheb i went a specialist college where yes i recieved those interventions and yes it made my life better, im still not a person with autism though. Im autistic. Im not preventing any one getting the support i had, or even calling themselves a person with autism. I am a very capable person, hell i got myself to uni, i work in the disablity sector, prehaps if you saw me you wouldnt know, but i stammer, i flap, i hat being touched, i take things literally, i haveto walk around with headphones in because outher wise my life feels a bot like the video the NAS put out yesterday about sensory processing. Sometimes life gets on top of me. In fact at the moment my friend is encouraging everyone i know to make a safeguarding report about me because my social services believe i'm not ellegable for a support service. A service im desparately in need of and want, that i used to get. Because i dont put my autism down i have it all the time. Im an autistic person not some one with autism. Being an autistic person does not imply you dont want support. In fact tbh it might imply you need ut more as you accept your autism never goes a bloody way. The fact i dont want it to doesnt mean i dont want help to access the world

As an autistic person:
People self-diagnosing and identifying as autistic is an issue

@DampSocks even when they're damned sure and seeking diagnosis? What about those who live in areas where diagnosis isn't provided under NHS?

I say this as even though I am now diagnosed my obsession with rules meant I used suspected autism until I was diagnosed.

bishop i certianly have no problem with people like you self Diagnosing i have a feeling we probably have similar stories and simialar views.

But there is possiably a problem with the everyones a bit on the specturm arent they people calling themselves #actallyautistic when they dont actally know what actally autistic is?!

Yeah I bloody hate "everyone's a bit autistic "

Recent article on ABA for info.

I found the chris packham thing hard at that bit, especially when there are such amazing other systems in the US such as Carol Gray's social stories, PECs and TEACCH, which all used in conjunction with sensory programs and the new approach called SCERTs, really support an autistic child's needs.

autisticuk.org/does-aba-harm-autistic-people/

Key line:

"Quite often the main beneficiary is not the autistic person, it is the people around them."

TEACCH was amazing for my boys.

Naught.

Bishop, if people saw how far Mesibov (one of the developers of it) and co take it in the US, they'd be stunned as to why we don't do it more here.

They take it up to college level, equipping autistic people who would otherwise be unable to work with the skills to do a range of key jobs. They have full size shops and teach the students how to stack shelves etc following cues, that are easily transferable to the real life work place. I think they had/ have a farm too.

It's real learning not learning to hide the autism.

I met a young child who had had ABA, all they could do was name things, no practical application of simple problem solving, which TEACCH can develop.

That article linked made me cry. ABA is abuse.
I've seen footage of one of those schools, looks amazing (the one with the supermarket)

Chris Packham doc

I assume the TEACCH concept is US only? any links to early intervention strategies that still allow my boy to be himself rather than mask would be appreciated. Any essential reading would also be appreciated. Thank you. Also -any parents who succeeded getting a diagnosis for their DC: What did it change/how did it help in a state school setting? PM me if you prefer x

cheeseplant thanks, my littke rant makes it seem like i dont want to be autistic, but despite the dificulties atm i still wouldnt change veing me. Just wish i could some how get social services to see i might manage some things, but i need support

Thanks for that ABA article, it really is a frightening therpy, well to me it is. I think it has a softer image over here, but iy doesnt take away from where it came from.

I dont know much about TEACCH but i do use Pecs and widgit symbols sometimes

Yep that didnt get any better watching it again yabasic i know it was me that recomended the documentry.

Ya there are speech therapists over here who use TEACCH principles, the ones I met were nhs.
Be aware, a lot of organisations over here do use ABA principles or similar.

Speaking as an autistic and trying to think what is key for every autistic person I know with regards to allowing them to be themselves I think the key is finding a way for him to communicate what he needs. Really helps cutting down meltdowns.

I used to write to my mum, I couldn't talk to her about what was going on in my life or how I felt. That wasn't her fault, I can't tell you why I can't talk about how I feel but I can write it down. DD does the same now she can write and she's a lot more chilled out. My boys never talk about problems or feelings but know I'm there for a hug and will always listen or read. But they let me know what they need.

Another thing is don't sweat the small stuff. There are things that are important to learn in life if at all possible like how to keep yourself and others safe and learning to be kind to others. There are other things that aren't as important, if you need to use tech to cope with a busy environment then use it - I do!

We are all essentially different, though.

I watched all of it naught (all three parts are on youtube) and whilst it made me cry in several places, it was a good recommendation. Thank you.

Cheers bish You've helped me before I think I just got lost in reddit ABA thread but the Carl Rogers quote I hadn't heard before.
"Who I am is good enough, if I would only be it openly."

Not very applicable to home however is extremely useful

www.scerts.com

There are many TEACCH courses run here in Kettering.

Anything written by Gary Mesibov on it is good.

It's essentially setting up the children's lives to allow more independence - at school this means how you organise the classroom, work areas, use symbols and short routines (I put my bag here, my coat here and go and get my folder when I come in - an extremely simplified example) and is very careful to structure 'work' and learning in a similar fashion.

Using timetables and schedules is part of it but actually not how many use them here. For example, teaching the significance of a symbol for "change" or "something different" helps to teach young children that we can expect last minute changes and differences in life.

I really can't explain it all here though. This is a tiny snapshot.

Coupled with properly done social stories and a good level of sensory provision all really helps.

SCERTs is the opposite of ABA. It allows the child to develop in their own way with appropriate support.

I like the sound of that cheeseplant

But yes see i still use pecs symbols and stuff for my timetables and communication

And social stories are brilluant

I do not identify as autistic, I am autistic. I do not identify as a woman, I am a woman.

Even pre-diagnosis I knew I was probably autistic but out of respect I didn’t make that claim until I was formally diagnosed, just in case I was wrong. There’s a huge difference between those seeking diagnosis because they know and those identifying because they feel a bit awkward socially or believes it gives them carte Blanche to behave in socially unacceptable ways.

You wouldn’t identify as having cancer without a formal diagnosis, you’d have to have something wrong with you to tell everyone you did have cancer pre-diagnosis but you might say you suspect you have cancer. You certainly wouldn’t stand up and claim to be representative of people with cancer.

My blood boils (figuratively)

Yeah that's why I used suspected until I was actually diagnosed.