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While not every resource here will contain explicit triggering content, much of the resources in this masterpost mention or deal with generally triggering material. Content warnings for institutionalized ableism, medical abuse, restraint, child abuse, torture, anti-autistic ableism, “quiet hands”, emotional and psychological abuse, manipulation, infantilization, nonconsensual “therapy”, compliance training, and violence against disabled children and adults.

Resources for therapists/professionals:

If you want me to believe you’re a good behaviourist http://realsocialskills.org/post/99822366632/if-you-want-me-to-believe-youre-a-good ABA and Autism – the thorny problem of control and consent (this is very good and very thorough, a must read) http://smallbutkindamighty.com/2015/06/16/aba-and-autism-the-thorny-problem-of-control-and-consent/ Appearing to enjoy behaviour modification is not meaningful http://realsocialskills.org/post/124333076514/appearing-to-enjoy-behavior-modificiation-is-not ABA therapy is not like typical parenting (this one is relevant to “life skills” acquisition) http://realsocialskills.org/post/120453082402/aba-therapy-is-not-like-typical-parenting Resources other than ABA http://realsocialskills.org/post/126754414929/resources-other-than-aba How to Tell if an Autism ABA Therapy Is Harmful http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-if-an-Autism-ABA-Therapy-Is-Harmful

THE MISBEHAVIOUR OF BEHAVIOURISTS: Ethical Challenges to the Autism-ABA Industry http://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_aba.html “After you hit a child, you can’t just get up and leave him; you are hooked to that kid" O. Ivar Lovaas Interview With Paul Chance, Psychology Today, 1974 http://neurodiversity.com/library_chance_1974.html

A note to what feels like every ABA therapist ever http://neurowonderful.tumblr.com/post/112730019116/a-note-to-what-feels-like-every-aba-therapist

Writings on ABA by a/Autistic people:

My Thoughts on ABA http://autismwomensnetwork.org/my-thoughts-on-aba/ A Challenge to Autism Professionals http://idoinautismland.blogspot.ca/2014/02/a-challenge-to-autism-professionals.html No You Don’t http://unstrangemind.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/no-you-dont/ Breaking Down ABA https://restlesshands42.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/breaking-down-aba-again-part-2-goals-and-underlying-philosophy/ ABA teaches kids how NOT to communicate http://stimmyabby.tumblr.com/post/93506124680/aba-teaches-kids-how-not-to-communicate I wish behaviourists understood http://madeofpatterns.tumblr.com/post/117254400612/i-wish-behaviorists-understood Why I oppose ABA as a method of instruction http://realsocialskills.org/post/110819268573/why-i-oppose-aba-as-a-method-of-instruction ABA 101 http://neurowonderful.tumblr.com/post/114506589521/hello-just-wanting-a-quick-for-dummies-answer

Writings on the connection between ABA and trauma/PTSD:

An open letter to families considering intensive behaviour therapy for their child with autism http://www.astraeasweb.net/politics/aba.html (part one) http://www.astraeasweb.net/politics/aba2.html (part two) Trauma & Autism http://emmashopebook.com/2013/06/25/trauma-autism/ The truth about ABA http://autismmythbusters.com/parents/therapy/the-truth-about-aba/

Writings on ABA by professionals/therapists/ex-ABA therapists:

What ABA is like: The point of view of a former therapist http://karalianne.tumblr.com/post/90413871001/what-aba-is-like-the-point-of-view-of-a-former “I’m sorry, but that’s not earning your token…” http://ink-and-daggers.tumblr.com/post/112076858794/im-sorry-but-thats-not-earning-your-token Dr. Mona Delahooke’s entire ABA tag: http://www.thevisibleparent.com/tag/aba/ Why I Left ABA https://sociallyanxiousadvocate.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/why-i-left-aba/

Writings from the parents of a/Autistic children:

my brain:

I live in a state where you “have to” report anyone you suspect of being undocumented (that wonderful hellhole of Arizona). Now in practice this law has fallen far short, thank goodness. But if you live in such a place and they start enforcing it, here is how you get around it:

Assume everyone who doesn’t speak English is visiting.

Never ask about their job, because if they tell you they work here then you know they’re not visiting. You see them a lot for several weeks or months? Hm. Someone in the family must be ill. That’s terribly tough. They always dress in old, ratty laborers’ clothes? I feel you, my dude, I can’t afford new clothes either, and my dad has the fashion sense of an aardvark, so sometimes it’s not even about “affording” them. They say they’ve been here for years? You must have misunderstood. Spanish isn’t your first language, after all. First and last name? It never came up, or you don’t recall–you meet a lot of people.

Don’t do more than is expressly asked of you, and do what you are asked with such an intense attention to protocol that not asking you at all becomes more effective than even bothering.

In this case:

“Have you seen an illegal immigrant?”

“Could you describe an illegal immigrant, officer?”

*officer describes a person who is in the country without appropriate paperwork, or who has crossed the border illegally*

“No, sir, I haven’t seen any illegal immigrant.”

1) Even someone who’s working could be here on a migrant (or other sort of) visa (hey, there are a few thousand per year, and *someone*’s got to get them, right?) or could be waiting for their case to resolve in immigration court, after having come to America to join a born or naturalized American family member. 

2) Even people who are working improperly could have come into the country legally – and just overstayed their visa or be violating the conditions of their visa, and you have no idea what the niggly little regulations that govern that might be. 

3) If a law enforcement officer asks you about a neighbor/friend/etc., take this moment to remind them that, unlike them, you cannot ask a random person off the street for their ID and be entitled to a response. 

4) Even if someone has told you that they are undocumented, you still don’t know, do you? Humans lie all the time. How could you know for sure? You can’t, because they can’t prove that they have a lack of papers. Just because you haven’t seen papers doesn’t mean they don’t exist! 

5) Don’t ever talk to cops in general. Why are you talking to a cop? Stop that, as soon as it is safe and feasible. 

Love,

American Gateways provides legal services and representation to detained parents. It’s seeking volunteers to represent low-income individuals and families.

Annunciation House shelters families detained and separated by ICE on the El Paso/Juarez border.

Baker Ripley’s team of immigration attorneys is providing free or low-cost legal services throughout the Houston immigrant community.

Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services says it’s the only full-service immigration legal aid clinic serving low-income immigrants and refugees in the southwestern U.S.

Immigrant Families Together works to bond out asylum seekers and reunite them with their children. It also provides food to families and government and foster-agency-approved housing to expedite reunifications. The group is accepting donations.

Immigrant Justice Now is working to provide supplies, like bus tickets, Pedialyte, shoes, prepaid cellphones and underwear, to immigrant families and children.

Justice for Our Neighbors provides free and low-cost legal services to immigrant individuals and families in Texas.

Kids In Need of Defense partners with major law firms, corporations and bar associations to create a nationwide pro bono network to represent unaccompanied children through their immigration proceedings. Volunteers don’t need to have immigration law experience.

La Posada Providencia in San Benito runs a shelter for people in the legal process of seeking asylum, residency or some other legal alternatives.  

The El Paso-based Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center provides legal representation to asylum seekers. It’s accepting donations.

RAICES is a nonprofit that provides free and low-cost legal services to immigrant children, families and refugees in Texas. It’s accepting donations and volunteers at its website.

South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project is looking for volunteers and attorneys (even ones not experienced in immigration law) to provide legal services to asylum seekers detained in South Texas.

Texas Civil Rights Project is looking for bilingual attorneys who can help represent detained and separated parents during their immigration proceedings.

The Children’s Immigration Law Academy has pro bono attorneys representing children in immigration-related proceedings. It’s also providing specialized training to legal service providers and volunteers who are serving unaccompanied immigrant children.

The Human Rights Initiative of North Texas provides free legal services to immigrants who are seeking asylum in the U.S. and immigrants who are victims of violence.

The Migrant Center for Human Rights is providing free and low-cost legal services for detained asylum seekers in Texas.

The Thanks-Giving Foundation is taking volunteers and donations to help with the Oak Lawn Methodist Church Respite Center. The center is where some of the overflow asylum seekers are being sent from El Paso while en route to their families and sponsors in the U.S.

The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is accepting donations that will go toward providing more child advocates for immigrant kids inside the detention centers weekly and accompany them to immigration proceedings.

Together Rising is collecting money that’ll go toward defenders, prosecutors and advocates who are working to reunify immigrant children with their families.

(please, please, please copy, paste, and share widely):

-Border Patrol can verify citizenship within 100 miles of a border or “external boundary.” This includes coastlines so NYC is within the 100-mile zone.

-Border patrol can only ask brief questions about citizenship, and they cannot hold you for an extended time without cause.

-You always have the right to remain silent. You do not need to answer their questions.

-***WITH THAT SAID, IF YOU ARE A BORN CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES AND ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE WHITE, YOU NEED TO SPEAK THE FUCK UP.***

-The most important acts of resistance are the small ones. Make it difficult and uncomfortable for ICE agents to do their jobs. They are counting on citizens to turn a blind eye and allow them to deport undocumented citizens without challenge. Disabuse of that notion.

-If you are on a train, bus, or anything else and ICE or CBP boards, you need to stand up and loudly let everyone know that they have the right to remain silent or only answer questions in the presence of an attorney, no matter their citizenship or immigration status. There have been numerous reports that confronting the agents in this way has caused them to leave without verifying citizenship. THIS CAN SAVE LIVES.

-If you see anyone being held up by immigration, loudly ask if they are being detained and if they are free to go.

-Immigration officers cannot detain anyone without reasonable suspicion, an agent must have specific facts about you that make it reasonable to believe you are committing or committed, a violation of immigration law or federal law.

If an agent detains you, you can ask for their basis for reasonable suspicion, and they should tell you.

-Always say no to a search and let everyone know that they can and should refuse consent to a search.

-They cannot search or arrest anyone without facts about that make it probable that they are committing, or committed, a violation of immigration law or federal law.

-Silence alone meets neither of these standards. Nor does race or ethnicity alone suffice for either probable cause or reasonable suspicion

-As white citizens, we have a level of privilege which protects us from retaliation from ICE for being “rude” and making a scene, which makes it our DUTY to speak up and make sure people without the same privilege know their rights. GET LOUD. YELL. YELL IN SPANISH IF YOU KNOW IT. LET PEOPLE KNOW THEY DON’T HAVE TO SAY SHIT. MAKE ICE UNCOMFORTABLE. THROW SAND IN THE GEARS OF WHITE SUPREMACY.

BONUS INFO:

-It is perfectly legal to record immigration agents as long as you are not on government property or at a port of entry. If your train/bus gets board, pull your phone out and start videotaping immediately.

-If you are detained or see someone getting detained, get the agent’s name, number, and any other identifying information. Get it on tape.

hey so uhhh here’s an important update on what’s apparently happening at the border, especially with the use of the old japanese internment camps

all i can say is i’m sickened by this mess, by the atrocities committed against innocent people. and now there will be no surveillance. no one will be able to see what happens to these people. the UN, the media, and any other human rights organizations cannot get into these facilities, either, in order to stop what’s happening. by the way, coast guard members were apparently aiding in this process as well. so now it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a military movement.

no one gets in. no one gets out.

so when are we going to call this what it is? it’s fascism. it’s genocide. and if we don’t stop it now, it’s going to be disastrous.