"Everyday moments of awe offer profound benefits to our mental health, enhancing personal well-being as well as a sense of belonging, at no expense. Unlike the price-gouging therapies we autistics are surrounded by since childhood, these experiences of awe are accessible and deeply meaningful." - Hari Srinivasan
Read on... https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2024.38246.pw
"When you say positive psychology in the context of autism, what comes to mind immediately is the image of people with autism thriving and flourishing, and moving beyond surviving. It boils down to that! We need to see real solutions that help autistics achieve a quality of life that goes beyond mere existence." - Hari Srinivasan
Read on... https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2024.38246.pw
Autism Space seen as profit making space by Private Equity
This is a continuing and troubling trend in autism.
'...private equity investments per year tripled or quadrupled from 2018 to 2021 compared to 2015.
...expected investment to continue at breakneck speed
“...They needed to start showing profits and revenue that match their valuation. … So at some point, [investors] need to start seeing a return on their investment,”
...autism therapy space could be at the point of the investment life cycle where investors are pressuring operators to shift from scale to efficiency and profitability.
...opening clinics that reach targeted patients while being “financially healthy,” Marsh said.
"Positive psychology must also recognize the needs of the most marginalized in the autism community, such as those with high support needs who face significant communication, health, and behavioral challenges. Even basic social inclusion is a non-starter for a good chunk of such autistics. For instance, parents of neurotypical children might have concerns about their children around an autistic child who may be aggressive or have self-injurious behaviors. Another example is a young adult I know who is homebound, with a worker who comes once a week and sits outside the house so that the parent can run errands. Such autistics are excluded even from segregated adult day programs meant for autistics. So, what kind of thriving and flourishing of autistics are we talking about here?" - Hari Srinivasan
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2024.38246.pw
"Danger of misunderstanding and misrepresenting the autistic community, with interventions possibly imposing neurotypical standards of happiness that feel inauthentic or unrelatable." - Hari Srinivasan
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2024.38246.pw
"Integrating Autism and the Positive Psychology fields faces significant barriers, starting with the high cost of therapy, which automatically makes it inaccessible to a large portion of autistics and their families. Being autistic already comes with a big financial cost." - Hari Srinivasan
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2024.38246.pw
“Positive psychology in the context of autism… is people with autism thriving and flourishing, and moving beyond surviving." - Hari Srinivasan
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2024.38246.pw
For many autistics, understanding and managing emotions can be a unique challenge. However, becoming aware of how body posture affects feelings can be a simple yet effective tool for emotional regulation.
Here’s how posture can help:
Disability and poverty are intrinsically linked, creating a vicious cycle that exacerbates the challenges faced by the disabled. This disparity stems from systemic barriers in education, employment, and healthcare. Disabled individuals often encounter limited job opportunities, workplace discrimination, and inadequate support services, significantly hindering their ability to secure stable and well-paying employment. According to the National Council on Disability, these employment challenges contribute heavily to the higher poverty rates among disabled individuals (National Council on Disability, 2017). The lack of accessible education further compounds this issue, as it restricts the skill development necessary for competitive employment.
Moreover, poverty can lead to or worsen disability, creating a continuous loop of disadvantage. Individuals living in poverty often have limited access to healthcare, resulting in untreated medical conditions that can lead to further disability. The financial strain associated with poverty can prevent people from obtaining necessary assistive devices or modifications, further diminishing their quality of life and ability to participate fully in society. The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes that this cyclical relationship underscores the need for comprehensive policies and programs that address both poverty alleviation and disability inclusion simultaneously (WHO, 2011). Breaking this cycle requires concerted efforts to create inclusive educational and employment opportunities, enhance social support systems, and ensure equitable access to healthcare and other essential services for disabled people. Investing in these areas not only improves the lives of disabled individuals but also fosters a more inclusive and equitable society, reducing overall poverty and promoting economic stability.
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A plain language version
Disability and Poverty: A Tough Cycle
Disability and poverty are closely connected. This makes life harder for disabled people. Here’s why:
Education: Many disabled people don’t get a good education. This makes it hard for them to learn skills needed for good jobs.
Jobs: Disabled people often face problems finding jobs. There aren’t enough job opportunities, and some employers discriminate against them. Without good jobs, it’s hard to earn enough money.
Healthcare: Poor people often can’t afford good healthcare. This can lead to untreated health problems that cause or worsen disabilities.
Support Services: Disabled people need special support, like assistive devices or home modifications, but these can be expensive. Without money, they can’t get the help they need.
The National Council on Disability says that these problems make more disabled people live in poverty. The World Health Organization also says that we need to solve both poverty and disability issues together.
To break this cycle, we need to:
When we invest in these areas, we help disabled people live better lives. This also helps reduce poverty and builds a stronger, fairer society for everyone.
2 versions of this post
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40617-023-00833-w
Good grief is all I can say.
Adding the prefix of "Kind" to something does not automatically make anything automatically Kinder. As is peppering a paper with the word "Kind" to sublimely influence you that it must be kind.
And a sample size of 4 autistics in the study makes this a valid method, how?
And what did this "kind" translate to exactly. when a therapist drives you to the point of a tantrum in the first place, then offers to hold your hand, and saying "I can see you are frustrated."
Is this a new marketing strategy by the (massive-profits with no accountability) ABA industry to make even more profits of desperate families.
Please don't joke around with studies trying to whitewash stuff. This is not helping.
Some points that resonated in this article.
The problem with reinforcements.
Today there was a news article about a 7 year old autistic boy who went missing from his school during the school day. This was during a snowstorm, and he was found shivering and soaked in the middle of a busy traffic intersection by good neighborhood samaritans - and wearing just a thin t-shirt.
The school of course insisted that the child had been missing a mere 2-3 minutes, though investigations show him having walked through a patch of woods and being outside for over 35 minutes.
There had already been a plan in place as this autistic kid frequently eloped (a term used for kids who wander away). The police and parents were to be informed but neither happened. The good samaritans saw a kid darting about in traffic, stopped the traffic, rescued him, took him home and wrapped him in blankets.
Unfortunately the school district missing an autistic child during the school day is more common that you would think. As is the practice of gaslighting parents on the details (fear of being sued!!). The fear of being sued apparently more critically important than any safety concerns of disabled children.
When I was younger (~grade 3-4) I was in a classroom simply known as Room 20 in Dilworth Elementary. An autistic kid in my class did go missing for several hours. The school went into a lockdown as they searched for him. We were all asked to come indoors and stay inside.
Later that afternoon, an old man who lived a few streets away returned the kid as he had found him wandering around.
Of course, there was a lot of discussion in the class that day between the teacher and the classroom aides about how to downplay or not report this incident to the parents at all. I don't know the end result of how much the parents were told, but those overheard conversations about how to avoid revealing the truth about a missing child to its parents by educators are deeply disturbing.
How can we autistics fully put our trust and faith in an education system if we don't believe educators (the ones supposed to nurture and help us) will only will watch their own back and not your back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJBoKDEUJy4
This week I heard of an instance where an ABA therapist got offended at a something his autistic client did and quit over the autistic teen not following directions.
The autistic teen had been asked to wait at a library, looks like that teen hung around for a while, and then decided to just walk back to his home alone after a while.
I want to ask, who has the diagnosis here, who is the professional "behavior-therapist" here who is supposed to help shape behaviors instead of walking off in a huff.
Why have the word "behavior" in applied-behavior-therapy if you don't want to even help with or deal with behavior in the first place.
Another example of private equity (valuation) driving ABA therapy. This does not bode well for the marginalized groups within autism and furthers the exploitative and profit hungry nature of autism therapy.
When the focus is on $$$$, companies will turn away the "non-easy" cases (aka, autistic kids with behaviors) and take up cases they perceive are easy, so that they can show quick results to the investors. Given the heterogeneity of autism with the dx ratio now at 1:36, there are enough non-behavior kids to fill any amount of supply. There is irony in behavior agencies turning away kids with behaviors who need help.
There is focus on valuation but not on quality control in ABA, because in autism if a kid does not improve, the fault is all on the kid, never the therapy. The one industry where there can be profits with no accountability.
This is a continuing and troubling trend in autism.
'...private equity investments per year tripled or quadrupled from 2018 to 2021 compared to 2015.
...expected investment to continue at breakneck speed
“...They needed to start showing profits and revenue that match their valuation. … So at some point, [investors] need to start seeing a return on their investment,”
...autism therapy space could be at the point of the investment life cycle where investors are pressuring operators to shift from scale to efficiency and profitability.
...opening clinics that reach targeted patients while being “financially healthy,” Marsh said.
My take: If early childhood therapy was so "effective", then the thousands of kids who have had massive amounts of therapy all through childhood (starting with early intervention) would have "RECOVERED" may times over. Why are my challenges still significant - ie: all that therapy did not make a dent. Currently there is no such thing as gold-standard childhood therapy. Most autism therapy is hit-or-miss, at any age. Its just $$$$ spent on trial and error. Lots of careers and promotions.
Recently there was a twitter post pointing out that since were were no readily available "statistics" (referring to it as a "cool autism fact") showing numbers of the more significantly impacted adult autistics meant that numbers of this group must be overstated. Others in the thread questioned if adult autistics who did not not speak, even existed, since that autistic posting had learned to speak at age 3. This an irresponsible statement and an erasure of the huge number of non-speaking or minimal verbal adults who need to be part of the autism solutions.
Onto the paper.
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This is not my fault
I didn't do this on purpose.
It's not fair to judge myself, because its not accurate to judge yourself.
Remind myself, Don't judge myself for judging myself.