3rd Annual Day of Protest Against ABA

[Image description: red text on white background that says "International Day of Protest Against ABA #ProtestABADay #SayNoToABA @Protest ABA". White text in a red circle that says "Aug 31"]

​August 31, 2020 will mark the third annual International Day of Protest Against ABA.
 
This event takes place on August 31 to mark the anniversary of the Cardgate scandal. This scandal involved "Cards Against Humanity"-style cards based around ABA. The cards were created by an ABA therapist very active on social media, and made light of abuses such as physical restraint and skin shocks.
 
After years of advocacy by disabled advocates like Lydia X.Z. Brown, Jennifer Msumba, Emily Titon, Shain Neumeier, Cal Montgomery, Ari Ne'eman, Sam Crane, Julia Bascom, and Anita Cameron against the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) and its use of electric shock torture, the FDA has finally banned the electric shock devices used by the JRC. Unfortunately, the FDA decided to stay the ban last month when the JRC appealed.
 
We have also seen more studies come out against ABA, including:
 
--one from the US Department of Defence demonstrating that ABA doesn't work;
 
--one from the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal outlining the ethical problems with ABA;
 
--and one from the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry calling out the many conflicts of interest in autism early intervention research.
 
We have also seen an article from education expert Alfie Kohn criticizing ABA for being harmful to those subjected to it.
 
As with previous years, this will be primarily an online event, but in future years we hope to have some physical events. We invite autistic people and allies to share or retweet writings, videos, and art by ABA survivors, neurotypical and autistic parents of autistic children, and former ABA therapists, using the tag #ProtestABADay.
 
Want to submit a piece of writing, art, or other media about ABA to be shared on our @ProtestABA Facebook page? Send it to [email protected]! We will be prioritizing and amplifying voices from ABA survivors in particular, but all submissions are welcome for consideration. 
 
#ProtestABADay
#SayNoToABA
#MoreWaysThanABA
#YesAllABA