ABA therapy is a behaviour modification intervention. It is used particularly with autistic children who struggle with communication and self-regulation. ABA is touted as being “evidence-based”, even though evidence shows that most ABA survivors want it stopped. This article, written for a South African audience, includes perspectives of several non-speaking autistics on their ABA experiences.
“This is heartbreaking,” wrote Kenyan autistic activist Karen Muriuki as PAABA officials began blocking autistic people from commenting on their standard of ethics during the launch of the organisation online. “Why silence autistic Africans who are advocating for disability and human rights? This a total violation of CRPD Articles 7, 15 and 16.”
Some schools in the Western Cape are allegedly coercing parents into drugging their disabled children.
Prompting helps nonspeaking people develop motor skills for whole-body apraxia. The PROMPT© method is not a good fit.
In February 2021, nonspeaking activist Zekwande Mathenjwa became a member of the newly-formed Special Interest Group (SIG) on Autism established by the Ethics Committee of the SASLHA, the national body for Speech, Language and Hearing professionals in South Africa.
Here are some of our provincial (Western Cape), national (South African) and continental (African) focus areas for 2021.
“All this drama about Autism Awareness Day is too much. It’s a much hated day by many autistics. I hate it too. Just too patronising for words.”