insatiable bcba

But really, please do. I’ll do my best to STFU. And if you are a BCBA reading this whose feelings are hurt by someone asserting the problems ABA has caused, kindly STFU too.

When I was initially confronted with issues with ABA, I felt defensive and had the mindset of “not all ABA”. Now, I hope to be an ally who can simply listen when I’m confronted with problems with the field. I’ve learned that I was in fact complicit with that ABA that many “woke” BCBAs refer to whenever they’re deflecting criticism of their own practice. I’d like to think that I grew as a practitioner, but not enough.

I worked at FOUR companies who claimed to serve autistics, and yet none of them:

Employed autistics

Even mentioned neurodiversity

Implemented company policy of consent by their clients

And these are all companies who I’m convinced would laud their own practice, and might perhaps respond to criticism of the field with #notallaba.

As of late, I’ve made waves among my inner circles of professional colleagues and friends by questioning realities of Applied Behavior Analysis that are largely accepted as “the way things are.” I am a Behavior Analyst who is trying to go rogue because I’ve realized that too much focus on keeping the peace reinforces the status quo. Sometimes that’s good. But that’s assuming you want to keep the status quo.

I’ve come to realize that, in light of the current state of the field, conscientious, ethical behavior analysts cannot reinforce the status quo. In fact, we need to be downright contrary in the face of systemic problems that we are complicit with maintaining.

I am in the pursuit of being insatiable.

I recognize that this freedom is a privilege I’ve attained by feeling “done”: done with the field, done with the facade of expertise, done with the bloated profits of large scale companies and their private investors who know nothing about best practice.

But I’m also done with the mom and pop companies, who in spite of striving to treat their employees “well”, fail to budget for staff training, expert referrals, and evidence-based assessments. Where Behavior Technicians are left alone with their clients in the name of “empathy” for the parents, meanwhile, endangering their own staff. Where arbitrary punishments are used because that is what was modeled by an out-of-touch supervisor who hasn’t pursued the research literature since their own certification 15 years prior. Where staff are “family”, so why wouldn’t a driven behavior technician spend their free time trying to figure out how in the hell to write a BIP by their next session? Where suicidal ideation is included in a behavior plan as “attention-seeking challenging behavior targeted for reduction”.

If these scenarios sound a little too close to home, or perhaps too specific, please know that they are borne from the direct experience of the author within the past 6 years.

I have the mental freedom, free from constantly evading cognitive dissonance when affronted with criticisms of Applied Behavior Analysis. You are in this latter group if you wonder, “but I have good intentions? How can I be harming you?” when you are faced with a criticism of your practice.

I don’t have to worry about my current state of conflict impeding my ability to support myself or my family. This in itself is a privilege; prior to this, I actively avoided the cognitive dissonance of the field and my own past actions out of fear, in spite of gnawing feeling in my gut that something is wrong.

And if your first instinct is to critique me by saying, “but how is that behavioral??” Kindly get the FUCK out of here.

To those of you who are still reading: I have a hunch that many of us are in a similar boat. I want to give us a platform to air out our grievances, making unspoken discomforts a spoken step forward in supporting the people we claim to serve in ways that they approve of; in ways that are humane, empowering, and support meaningful outcomes, not so-called “best outcomes” (which is often code for a “cure”).

I am in the pursuit of being insatiable following years of blind acceptance and complacency. Let us all be insatiable by no longer accepting outdated, humiliating practices that are openly accepted by peer-reviewed behavior-analytic literature and passively accepted by those who don’t know any better.

I must say that I’m trying, that I am in pursuit, because I have so much more to learn. But this is the first step.