Defining Neuronormative Hegemony

And why Ontario’s recent ABA regulations don’t go far enough

Charlie Brown created by Charles Schultz — (image created by author on Canva)

When Autistics are heard

As mentioned previously, a lawyer named Ariana Cernius published an article in Fortune Magazine in May 2022 entitled, The autistic community is having a reckoning with ABA therapy. We should listen. Cernius’ brother is Autistic, and she grew up considering behaviour therapies like applied behaviour analysis (ABA) as regular, normal parts of their family’s life.

That same year, Cernius retracted an article she had published in the Harvard Law Policy Review in 2016, in which she had advocated for an expansion of ABA services and increased insurance coverage of behaviour therapies for Autistic children across the U.S.

Citing industry rhetoric used by organizations such as the Autism Science Foundation and Autism Speaks, Cernius explains the messaging around behaviour therapy is that it’s the most effective intervention available, and “if you don’t work with an ABA provider, your child has no hope”. As a result, many families don’t realize they’re putting their loved ones through costly and traumatic programs because they’ve been told it’s the best possible care they can get.

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Ontario’s new ABA regulations

This past summer, the province of Ontario implemented new regulations for ABA practitioners, partially in response to growing public concern about the efficacy and ethics of behaviour therapies. The Psychology and Applied Behaviour Analysis Act establishes behaviour analysis as a newly regulated health profession under the renamed College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario.

I argue these changes offer a false sense of security, and in reality are simply part of “rebranding” ABA because of the negative sentiment around its use. These regulations inadvertently provide promotional material to the behaviour industry, allowing practitioners and clinics to advertise their “new and improved” support services boasting stricter — albeit dangerously inadequate — protections for their clients.

Placing behaviour analysts under the purview of the College of Psychologists lends the behaviour industry unwarranted professional legitimacy. This amalgamation gives consumers the impression that behaviour practitioners are as qualified as registered psychologists to provide services to Autistic people, despite the fact that ABA therapists are not required to take even a single class on autism, brain function, or child development.