My sister has high support Autism. She does not have the tools to speak for herself, as alongside her Autism she also has an intellectual disability. My sister was exposed to ABA therapy. And from my mother, my father, myself and, most importantly, my sister: #abaisabuse (cont)

My older sister loved school. It offered structure, it offered routine and it offered her friends to talk to. She loved it. She excelled in her school work.

Until she was put into the classroom of an ABA trained teacher. This teacher would purposefully do things to upset her,

would try to bring out behaviors from my sister just to punish her for them after. She would punish my sister for pacing (harmless), or not making eye contact (harmless), for being resistant to transition (at WORST inconvenient.)

This teacher used these harmless behaviors as

justification to pin my sister, to hit her, to belittle her.

Suddenly, my sister hated school. She didn't want to go. She had meltdowns every morning at the thought of going to school, and she didn't have the tools to communicate what was going on. My sister was suddenly

struggling more and my mom wasn't sure how.

If it wasn't for an teacher's aide speaking up about this behavior, my mother never would have known why my sister suddenly hated school. Even if this is a worst case scenario (from other autistic adults I know it's not),

this is indicative of what ABA encourages: harmful punishment for harmless behaviors and coping mechanisms. Autism isn't invisible, and we shouldn't risk Autistic adults safety and happiness for the temporary comfort of NTs.

When my mother complained, the teacher had tenure.

She couldn't be fired and had probably been doing this to other children who couldn't communicate for years before. She was forced into early retirement and went on to collect her pension.

My sister was put into another teacher's classroom and, once again, flourished when

at school. I'm just glad my sister had parents who held her safety, her happiness and her comfort far above the ignorance of strangers. Listen to the Autistic community. They are the ones who have to go through therapy. My sister's story coming from me is one step removed from

the autistic community; and it sucks that someone might listen to mine more because I am not autistic. I did not live through this abuse. My mother did not live through this abuse. And I want that to be true of autistic people after my sister. I am not speaking for the autistic

community--I am talking for my sister only, who could not do so herself. ABA is a therapy designed by NT's for Autistic people, and now that Autistic people are saying it has caused trauma, it's up to the NT people who designed and carried out that abuse to listen and stop.

And if this thread is a turning point for your stance on ABA, and not the first hand experience of an Autistic individual telling you the exact same thing, examine that.