Given what happened in Rwanda 30 years ago, and given that we haven’t seen a repeat since then, I think Kagame is doing a good job. I’m not sure how I feel about him being in power for so long, but I also don’t think we’re in the best place to judge (the West) given how abysmally we failed Rwanda over the past 200 years.

Look what happened in Texas. No power due to capitalism nonsense, asked for federal assistance, got it, and continued to screw over their constituents because of capitalism nonsense. Same thing.

I was born in AB and moved away finally a decade ago. The willful ignorance and hatred of most of the white people living there towards anything that had a shred of “liberalism” finally became too much. It’s hard to care about people that just want to punish others. Smith could look at this and say, “Yes, this is it, this is now the catalyst for truly doing something about climate change” and the cowboys would vote her out and find someone else to support their hate.

It’s not about committing money to climate change. It’s about not committing money to oil, drilling, and fracking. It’s about not ignoring scientists and Indigenous people about best practices around fire stewardship. I mean, for crying out loud, how much money have oil companies made off of oil, and how much have they saved on not cleaning up their wells, just for example? The oil companies could step in and rebuild Jasper several times over, but they’re not going to, because it’s all about $$$, and the Smith govt isn’t interested in holding their feet to the fire because that’s their retirement plan (oil exec advisors).

Smh.

Let’s see some commitments to dealing with climate change first. It sounds heartless, but I’d rather not slap some bandages on a severed limb.

ABA, which the article suggests, is also inhumane.

Removed by mod

What’s the original?

I love this! Thanks for sharing!

And mods!

It’s exhausting to be the research assistant for people who aren’t willing to put in the work. (Not saying that that’s OP.) It’s more within my capacity to point out where someone is making a gaffe and have them do the work to figure out why. I’ve been internetting since Telnet days and nothing has changed: people aren’t interested in sources you find for them, esp. on highly charged topics like this.

perspectives from people who dealt with more impairing issues (eg problems getting dressed, basic hygiene, trouble to communicate basic needs etc)

So those are all me. ABA still sucks. Im okay with admitting that, but I would think that you’d have to be pretty vulnerable to share that info, and not everyone is there. Maybe you have received perspectives from people with those issues who have chosen to not communicate those aspects of their selves.

There is no defense for ABA, period. ABA techniques were adapted for gay conversion therapy, which says a lot. ABA absolutely does not help anyone to learn important skills, but forces people to hide who they are to avoid shame and punishment. It’s abusive, causes trauma, and is not okay.

The use of “levels” is also profoundly problematic. Google it.

I understand what you’re looking for, but happily talking about ABA in an autism space is like asking LGBTQ folks about their positive experiences with gay conversion therapy. Others might feel differently, but some of us have been affected by our past experiences and don’t really care to be reminded of them.

If you mean the last one, then yes, it’s necessary for some breeds (schnauzers, for instance).

This isn’t new information — traumatologists have known this for a long, long time. Glad that info like this is making news in the NY Times, though!

I use it and pronounce it like “Mix”

ABA at all, in any shape or form, is harmful. Its taking a person and saying, “The way you talk or act isn’t okay. We’re going to change you so that you talk and act like a different people group, and we’re going to ensure that pretty much your entire life is dedicated to this goal until we’ve achieved it.”

If someone chooses to get CBT, then there’s implicit consent. It’s pretty hard to do CBT without consent. ABA, on the other hand, is usually done to people who do not consent, which is abuse. The only reason it’s not seen as abusive is because Western society is so ableist that they consider anything that “changes” an autistic person to be more neuroconforming is acceptable, no matter how it’s achieved.

Yeah, no, “mom and pop landlords” can cash in by selling their secondary properties and giving others a chance to build equity. It’s not fair to get someone else to pay your mortgage, whether or not it’s an older property, inheritance, etc. Housing should never be an investment.

Even if no charges are laid, someone is dead. The intent to kill wasn’t there, but the impact is that someone is dead. It doesn’t matter if a person didn’t mean to kill someone, but again, someone is dead.

This is why impact matters far more than intent. This is an extreme example, but it still applies in all situations. Someone might want to argue their way out of offending someone else, but the damage has already been done.

Okay.

Both are about impact vs intent. Both are about harm. I’m sorry you can’t see that.

If I accidentally spill hot coffee on you and say that it was an accident, you’re still going to be upset. You’d be more upset if I said I did it on purpose, but let’s not pretend that being offensive accidentally is okay.

Neither my nationality (I’m not American) nor my politics (I’m not liberal) have anything to do with this. The fact that I’m disabled means that this is a matter near and dear to my heart, and I can indeed be worried about more than one thing at a time (the eroding of trans rights in my own country, for example). It’s not privileged to want to discuss the impact of language.