Open Society

Listen now | In this episode, Matt and Angela explore how punk culture and neurodivergence intersect, highlighting the ways subcultures can serve as a refuge for authenticity and self-discovery.

When we trust progressive media outlets as both intellectually rigorous and socially just, their ableism goes (dangerously) unchecked.

The following mixed methods dissertation examines experiences of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) from the perspective of autistic people, parents, and ABA providers in Canada. Using survey and interview analysis, this study explores a growing divide in standpoints regarding ABA as a method of treating and supporting autistic young people. Autistic people across the globe have shared their lived experiences of the ways ABA has caused them harm, and often trauma, due to the rigidly applied reward and punishment strategies that were used to make them appear less autistic and more neurotypical. Yet, ABA remains the most recommended autism intervention in Ontario. To understand this problem more in-depth, the methodology adopts a Critical Autism Studies (CAS) framework, and transformative explanatory sequential mixed methods design, to seek autistic justice. The four-staged methodology (surveys – interviews – analysis – participatory dissemination with co-authorship of policy and practice directions with autistic participants) responds to Damian Milton’s (2014) call for “interactional expertise” between non-autistic researchers and autistic people to improve autism practice and policies through a strength-based understanding of autism. Eight participants with either positive or negative experiences with ABA (4 autistic people, 2 parents, and 2 ABA providers) were purposively sampled for interviews from a total of 100 survey respondents. Using a mix of quantitative analyses followed by open text box responses and eight “Stories Behind the Statistics”, the research aimed to explore the questions: What are the impacts of ABA services on autistic people’s well-being and quality of life (QoL)? Are ABA services meeting the needs of autistic people? As the research progressed, two new research questions emerged: In what ways do power and stigma influence experiences with ABA interventions? How can diverse autistic expertise transform autism intervention practices and policy? Findings did not reveal compelling evidence that ABA is an approach that improves the quality of life or wellbeing of autistic people. While some respondents shared positive experiences of ABA, findings revealed evidence of harm, which raises ethical concerns about the services received by autistic people in capitalist colonial societies. The dissertation concludes with recommendations co-authored with four autistic recipients of ABA.

A collaboratively developed annotated reading list expands upon core themes in neurodiversity, aiming to enhance understanding and to promote rigorous, destigmatizing, and inclusive practices in research.

We used an online task-switching task to explore how task predictability and sex affect cognitive flexibility in autistic individuals. Our findings show that increased predictability improves perform...

People with schizophrenia suffer from hallucinations and delusions as well as from significant cognitive impairments. Working memory is a critical resource for ...

Autistic advocates emphasise the need for neurodiversity-affirming and strengths-based approaches to support services; however, little is known about broader co...

Resurgence is the recurrence of target behavior (e.g., challenging behavior) during a worsening of reinforcement conditions (e.g., increases in response effort, decreases in alternative reinforcement...

Choice involves engaging in a selection response when multiple options are concurrently available. Choices can be incorporated into many components of behavior-analytic treatment such as providing cl...

There has been a great deal of debate over the meaning of the term neurodivergent and what it actually applies to. In fact, despite having a very clear definition, it has been a source of contention in neurodiversity circles for some time.

The 16-year-old has been home schooled after suffering meltdowns on the way to school.

Attachment patterns show up in ALL of our significant relationships, not just romantic ones. Our attachment patterns develop through each of our significant relationships in childhood, potentially including parents, non-parental caregivers, grandparents, siblings, teachers, coaches, and childhood fr

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They also might signal a weakening economy.

New paper! 🧵 Exploring Neurodiversity: An Annotated Reading List 🧵 We annotate 9 themes for readers interested in neurodiversity, including the history of neurodiversity, embracing neurodivergent voices, and shifting perspectives on autism, ADHD, and more. Paper is here: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.102467

A collaboratively developed annotated reading list expands upon core themes in neurodiversity, aiming to enhance understanding and to promote rigorous, destigmatizing, and inclusive practices in research.

Why is life hard for us sometime and what can help? Meltdowns, Shutdowns, Burnout, Masking, Unmasking, Medication, Self-harm...

An introduction to the limbic system. Meet the Panic Monkey and the Dino Brain. The process of a meltdown and how panic monkey and dino brain can help

Autistic Parents UK members share what Autistic joy means to them.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

“Disability justice was created by intersectional disabled queer folks who were really sick of the single-issue, white narrative and politics of the disability rights movement. Patty Berne says that “disability justice centers the lives and leadership of people of color, of queer and gender nonconforming people with disability. It is a movement-building framework, not an academic theory.” When people invisibilize the leadership of people of color[sic], of queer and gender nonconforming people with disabilities, it’s not disability justice.” LEAH LAKSHMI PIEPZNA-SAMARASINAH I am offering this template and guiding comments from my lived experience as a person of colour with invisible disabilities. I have been navigating contracts, institutions and employment conditions since 2009. I began using an access pack in 2017/8. I receive Access To Work but negotiate access costs not covered by Access To Work with organisations and partners. This is not always a smooth process as doing so frequently precipitates two, intertwined negotiations.  Firstly, these conversations uncover where/how the institution has either purposefully excluded disabled artists or carries unexamined, ableist biases within their frameworks; both financial and interpersonal. Secondly, because of power differences between the salaried institutions workforce and artist/producer freelancers, it is exposing for freelance creative practitioners to advocate for the working conditions they need to do their work. Add in the emotional labour of explaining not only a marginalised reality but repeating justifications of support, and the undertaking is daunting and frequently exacerbates health vulnerabilities.    I also offer this open pack to acknowledge that not everyone with access needs is in receipt of Access To Work and not everyone with access needs necessarily identifies as disabled. There are alternative ways people with long term health conditions may choose to identify, e.g. neurodivergent or neurodiverse. It is worth noting that a lot of organisations mainly add ‘Do you have a disability?’ on their monitoring forms and this can cause alienation, doubt and feelings of being left out of conversations, a lack of recognition and at times, makes it harder to access resources meant to support people with access needs.  “Neurodiversity is an essential form of human diversity. The idea that there is one “normal” or “healthy” type of brain or mind or one “right” style of neurocognitive functioning, is no more valid than the idea that there is one “normal” or “right” gender, race or culture. The classification of neurodivergence (e.g. autism, ADHD, dyslexia, bipolarity) as medical/psychiatric pathology has no valid scientific basis , and instead reflects cultural prejudice and oppresses those labelled as such. The social dynamics around neurodiversity are similar to the dynamics that manifest around other forms of human diversity. These dynamics include unequal distribution of social power; conversely, when embraced, diversity can act as a source of creative potential.” THE NEURODIVERSITY PARADIGM, BY NICK WALKER  My hope is that a document such as this could provide a framework to begin articulating needs and encourage the sensitivity and institutional, financial support vital for working environments and relationships in our sector to be caring and inclusive. I do this to lighten the load of advocating for the practices which will best help you do the work you wish to do, and to give an indicator that being held to account by supporting and respecting boundaries of access needs in relation to work environments are the responsibility of institutions, in shared dialogue with the artists they employ or wish to employ.  This access rider aligns itself with an intersectional and social model of disability. The model is informed by naming that:  “…people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. Barriers can be physical, like buildings not having accessible toilets. Or they can be caused by people’s attitudes to difference, like assuming disabled people can’t do certain things. The social model helps us recognise barriers that make life harder for disabled people. Removing these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control.”  SCOPE You can find out more about the social model of disability on this Inclusion London webpage. Some tips:  Have someone else you trust to talk through and write this with you. This could be a professional or a friend/family member. Take some time (and breaths) to think through a day where most things have gone or felt wrong in terms of access while at work – e.g. pain levels, negligence, conversations that were challenging or felt excluding. Think carefully through what was debilitating and what communications and practical procedures would have helped if they had been put in place and available.  This can be a challenge – hence having a companion to write this with you or for you. If helpful, anchor in your lived experience and value. It is your right to have accessible work in a safer space.   It is crucial to address the origins of ableism within structural racism and white supremacy. The racial hierarchies intrinsic to the historical constructing/pathologising race, and legalising institutional racism, deemed Black people to have less intelligence, to be less capable of fully and equally participating in (white) society. Indigenous cultures were decimated in the name of ‘civilisation’ in still untold massacres. The present-day undervaluing of and threat to BIPOC life cannot be kept separate or parallel to understandings of disability. Racism and ableism are rooted and entwined together.  The whiteness of the disability arts sector (which has not yet fully examined or enacted structural change to address discrimination), and racism within other social contexts, e.g. within accessing appropriate medical care, are significant barriers for BIPOC with access needs. The compounding effects of having these multiple, marginalised identities cannot be understated. Additionally, white-led arts organisations need to take extra consideration of the privilege and biases they are enacting, when interpreting a BIPOC’s access needs and deciding for themselves how to support that person’s needs.  Writer, educator and community organiser for disability justice and transformative justice Mia Mingus coined the term ‘Access Intimacy’ which I leave here as an encouraging hope for solidarity:  “Access intimacy is that elusive, hard to describe feeling when someone else “gets” your access needs.  The kind of eerie comfort that your disabled self feels with someone on a purely access level.  Sometimes it can happen with complete strangers, disabled or not, or sometimes it can be built over years.  It could also be the way your body relaxes and opens up with someone when all your access needs are being met.  It is not dependent on someone having a political understanding of disability, ableism or access.  Some of the people I have experienced the deepest access intimacy with (especially able bodied people) have had no education or exposure to a political understanding of disability.” Access Intimacy, Interdependence and Disability Justice, April 2017  Take heart, Alexandrina x CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ACCESS RIDER OPEN TEMPLATE IN .DOCX CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ACCESS RIDER OPEN TEMPLATE IN .PAGES You are welcome to download the template for free. If you can afford to, in exchange for downloading the Access Rider Open Template, please consider donating a contribution towards my ongoing creative practice, including racial and disability justice. Thank you. This access rider open template has been created in partnership with Dance4 and with support from Disability Arts Online, Battersea Arts Centre, Siobhan Davies Dance, Independent Dance, The Place and Sadler’s Wells. With thanks to Rebekah Ubuntu, Vijay Patel and Nina Mühlemann, who each provided invaluable feedback on the access rider. I originally worked on my own access rider with Veionella Spaine  In Summer 2021, I will upload the access rider open template document in different formats – video, alternative text/page background colour and large print versions. My apologies I have not been able to do this yet. End note: Access To Work is an HMRC government grant available in England, Scotland and Wales to support disabled people at work. Disability Arts Online have created a fantastic guide to the Access to Work rules and official guidance, with specific advice for the arts and cultural sector. More information on access riders for artists and other examples of access riders can be found on Access Docs For Artists

This chapter discusses how the autistic author had experiences of exclusion in integrated schools alongside neurotypical children. In particular, the author

The LGBTQ+ community has been here before – and learned that real change happens when activists are front and center

Our individually unique nervous systems and sensitivities develop and evolve over the course of our lives. 85% of neurodivergent adults often or always feel overwhelmed and misunderstood, and over …

Human Restoration Project is reimagining education across the world toward progressive, human-centered classrooms.

Neurodevelopmental classifications and the collective idea of neurodivergence can be seen as a ‘moving target’. In our understanding, this means that it responds to the needs of society as well as ...

‘Mad’ is a contentious term with which many service users/survivors feel uncomfortable. Yet it is the framework for a major new user-led challenge to bio-medical thinking about distress – Mad Studi...

Autistic Parents UK members share what Autistic joy means to them.