[Note: Shared for #AutisticHistory archive purposes. This is NOT An Autistic Ally.]
VIDEO: Why North Carolina Needs Autism Insurance Reform Now
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(August 4, 2014) – Autism Speaks Vice President of State Government Affairs Lorri Unumb was interviewed on WBTV of North Carolina about the status of the autism insurance reform bill in the state senate. The bill would make Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) available to thousands of families in the state.
Legislation requiring the coverage has twice passed the state House of Representatives, but continues to languish in the Senate.
Poll results indicate that 82 percent of North Carolina voters support requiring private health insurance companies to cover the treatment of autism.
ABA is an intensive, one-on-one treatment that, according to decades of research, can help nearly half of young children with autism achieve normal functioning.
Unumb recently appeared on WRAL-TV’s “On The Record” in a debate with Michelle Douglas, a spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of North Carolina over the coverage of ABA.
Autism Speaks recently posted a blog series that came straught from families in N.C. who need autism insurance reform. Read North Carolina stories here.
The Autism Community Is Not The Autistic Community
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Note/Warning:
Autistic people have fought the inclusion of ABA in therapy for us since before Autism Speaks, and other non-Autistic-led autism organizations, started lobbying legislation to get it covered by insurances and Medicaid.
ABA is a myth originally sold to parents that it would keep their Autistic child out of an institution. Today, parents are told that with early intervention therapy their child will either be less Autistic or no longer Autistic by elementary school, and can be mainstreamed in typical education classes. ABA is very expensive to pay out of pocket. Essentially, Autism Speaks has justified the big price tag up front will offset the overall burden on resources for an Autistic’s lifetime. The recommendation for this therapy is 40 hours a week for children and toddlers.
The original study that showed the success rate of ABA to be at 50% has never been replicated. In fact, the study of ABA by United States Department of Defense was denounced as a failure. Not just once, but multiple times. Simply stated: ABA doesn’t work. In study after repeated study: ABA (conversion therapy) doesn’t work.
What more recent studies do show: Autistics who experienced ABA therapy are at high risk to develop PTSD and other lifelong trauma-related conditions. Historically, the autism organizations promoting ABA as a cure or solution have silenced Autistic advocates’ opposition. ABA is also known as gay conversion therapy.
The ‘cure’ for Autistics not born yet is the prevention of birth.
The ‘cure’ is a choice to terminate a pregnancy based on ‘autism risk.’ The cure is abortion. This is the same ‘cure’ society has for Down Syndrome.
This is eugenics 2021. Instead of killing Autistics and disabled children in gas chambers or ‘mercy killings’ like in Aktion T4, it’ll happen at the doctor’s office, quietly, one Autistic baby at a time. Different approaches yes, but still eugenics and the extinction of an entire minority group of people.
Fact: You can’t cure Autistics from being Autistic.
Fact: You can’t recover an Autistic from being Autistic.
Fact: You can groom an Autistic to mask and hide their traits. Somewhat. … however, this comes at the expense of the Autistic child, promotes Autistic Burnout (this should not be confused with typical burnout, Autistic Burnout can kill Autistics), and places the Autistic child at high risk for PTSD and other lifelong trauma-related conditions.
[Note: Autism is NOT a disease, but a neurodevelopmental difference and disability.]
Fact: Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism.
International Badass Activists 