Trigger Warning: Ableism, ABA
At one point, there was a parent who wants a cure and was fairly ableist who I was interacting with. I was aware of this, but was flapping anyways because I was excited about something else. Another autistic person I was with was flapping for the same reason I was. The parent didn't say anything, but we could practically hear her thinking "Poor autistics! They need more ABA!" And so I will take down that sentence because it is not a good one to be thinking or saying in response to flapping.
1) Poor autistics? Really? Two autistic people flapping here. Both adults. One finishing up college and just recently took the Bar Exam. One me. You know, the triple major who does research in a department that isn't actually any of the three majors, is starting a masters program in the fall for one of the majors, and still finds time to write stuff and play sports? That's not a description of two people who need pity. It's a description of two people who are pretty stinking awesome and can credit at least some of this awesomeness to the being autistic thing.
2) They need more ABA? Um, no. I can suppress my flapping just fine. I just decided, as a reasonable person can generally do, that I have priorities in a given order, and that things below point X are not to be worried about. Guess what? Suppressing flapping is usually below point X! There are exceptions, but that was not one of them. When these exceptions come up, I don't flap. Simple as that.
Besides which, ABA does not have to have suppressing stimming as a goal, and I frankly think it SHOULDN'T have suppressing stimming as a goal. Weird as it might be, it has a purpose. Which means that ABA done the way I think it should be done wouldn't do anything about flapping anyways, at which point this would become a non sequitur.
At one point, there was a parent who wants a cure and was fairly ableist who I was interacting with. I was aware of this, but was flapping anyways because I was excited about something else. Another autistic person I was with was flapping for the same reason I was. The parent didn't say anything, but we could practically hear her thinking "Poor autistics! They need more ABA!" And so I will take down that sentence because it is not a good one to be thinking or saying in response to flapping.
1) Poor autistics? Really? Two autistic people flapping here. Both adults. One finishing up college and just recently took the Bar Exam. One me. You know, the triple major who does research in a department that isn't actually any of the three majors, is starting a masters program in the fall for one of the majors, and still finds time to write stuff and play sports? That's not a description of two people who need pity. It's a description of two people who are pretty stinking awesome and can credit at least some of this awesomeness to the being autistic thing.
2) They need more ABA? Um, no. I can suppress my flapping just fine. I just decided, as a reasonable person can generally do, that I have priorities in a given order, and that things below point X are not to be worried about. Guess what? Suppressing flapping is usually below point X! There are exceptions, but that was not one of them. When these exceptions come up, I don't flap. Simple as that.
Besides which, ABA does not have to have suppressing stimming as a goal, and I frankly think it SHOULDN'T have suppressing stimming as a goal. Weird as it might be, it has a purpose. Which means that ABA done the way I think it should be done wouldn't do anything about flapping anyways, at which point this would become a non sequitur.
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