June 2024. Neurodiversity: A Behaviour Analyst’s Perspective

Presenter: Michael Nicolosi BCBA

A neurodiversity movement (NDM) has gained momentum in the 2020s, mainly driven by autistic self-advocates. The main argument of the NDM is that neurodivergent people experience discrimination that is on par with the historical discrimination of other minority groups. In this paper, we propose a behaviour analyst’s perspective on the NDM, considering available evidence. We first explore the history and emergence of the concept of neurodiversity and its neurological as well as psychological basis. We consider its potential for generating what some consider a zero-sum game, in which one group makes all the gains potentially at the expense of another group. We finish with the suggestion that a win-win situation is possible if the focus shifts proactively on advocacy for all autistic persons, including those with very high support needs who often are not able to advocate actively for themselves and who tend to benefit greatly from evidence-based behaviour analytic interventions.

Michael Nicolosi is a PhD candidate in the School of Social Work & Social Science with Queen’s University in Belfast, and Director of ABA Services at Data Driven ABA (Switzerland).

Link to talk in English

Link to talk in Italian