Given what happened in Rwanda 30 years ago, and given that we haven’t seen a repeat since then, I think Kagame is doing a good job. I’m not sure how I feel about him being in power for so long, but I also don’t think we’re in the best place to judge (the West) given how abysmally we failed Rwanda over the past 200 years.

Look what happened in Texas. No power due to capitalism nonsense, asked for federal assistance, got it, and continued to screw over their constituents because of capitalism nonsense. Same thing.

I was born in AB and moved away finally a decade ago. The willful ignorance and hatred of most of the white people living there towards anything that had a shred of “liberalism” finally became too much. It’s hard to care about people that just want to punish others. Smith could look at this and say, “Yes, this is it, this is now the catalyst for truly doing something about climate change” and the cowboys would vote her out and find someone else to support their hate.

It’s not about committing money to climate change. It’s about not committing money to oil, drilling, and fracking. It’s about not ignoring scientists and Indigenous people about best practices around fire stewardship. I mean, for crying out loud, how much money have oil companies made off of oil, and how much have they saved on not cleaning up their wells, just for example? The oil companies could step in and rebuild Jasper several times over, but they’re not going to, because it’s all about $$$, and the Smith govt isn’t interested in holding their feet to the fire because that’s their retirement plan (oil exec advisors).

Smh.

Let’s see some commitments to dealing with climate change first. It sounds heartless, but I’d rather not slap some bandages on a severed limb.

This is a really great article for an underreported problem. (The system, not the kids!) Thanks for posting!

ABA, which the article suggests, is also inhumane.

Removed by mod

What’s the original?

I love this! Thanks for sharing!

And mods!

What you’re teaching them to do is trust “experts” on the internet to give them unbiased sources. (And we know that there’s no such thing.) You might be an expert, I’ll grant you, but what happens the next time they ask about COVID and the only person who replies sends them a link about bleach light treatments?

There’s nothing wrong with answering questions, but I’d much rather answer the question “Is this link/source legit?” than “What’s the answer?” I think that’s more ethical, and more critical thinking can come into play by explaining why a source is or isn’t good.

Because it’s something that’s easily googled? Because it’s lazy to ask questions like that before trying to find it yourself?

here ya go

It’s exhausting to be the research assistant for people who aren’t willing to put in the work. (Not saying that that’s OP.) It’s more within my capacity to point out where someone is making a gaffe and have them do the work to figure out why. I’ve been internetting since Telnet days and nothing has changed: people aren’t interested in sources you find for them, esp. on highly charged topics like this.

There is no defense for ABA, period. ABA techniques were adapted for gay conversion therapy, which says a lot. ABA absolutely does not help anyone to learn important skills, but forces people to hide who they are to avoid shame and punishment. It’s abusive, causes trauma, and is not okay.

The use of “levels” is also profoundly problematic. Google it.

I understand what you’re looking for, but happily talking about ABA in an autism space is like asking LGBTQ folks about their positive experiences with gay conversion therapy. Others might feel differently, but some of us have been affected by our past experiences and don’t really care to be reminded of them.

If you mean the last one, then yes, it’s necessary for some breeds (schnauzers, for instance).

People should not be allowed to own two properties when some people can’t afford to own one. Allowing this is akin to saying that some people are inherently better than others and perpetuates wealth inequity. This is only a hard concept to grasp for out-of-touch wealthy people (and you can’t tell me that someone who owns two properties isn’t wealthy), a concept that children grasp instinctually.

This isn’t new information — traumatologists have known this for a long, long time. Glad that info like this is making news in the NY Times, though!

ABA at all, in any shape or form, is harmful. Its taking a person and saying, “The way you talk or act isn’t okay. We’re going to change you so that you talk and act like a different people group, and we’re going to ensure that pretty much your entire life is dedicated to this goal until we’ve achieved it.”

If someone chooses to get CBT, then there’s implicit consent. It’s pretty hard to do CBT without consent. ABA, on the other hand, is usually done to people who do not consent, which is abuse. The only reason it’s not seen as abusive is because Western society is so ableist that they consider anything that “changes” an autistic person to be more neuroconforming is acceptable, no matter how it’s achieved.

Scroll past, then, or educate yourself. Saying that you’re not interested in the topic while also saying that you don’t know what it is… why are you even here? Why are you adding to the political discourse by saying that you don’t want people to engage in political discourse? Good grief.

The anti-SOGI people don’t want queer people to exist. More specifically, they don’t want their kids to be queer.

The pro-SOGI people want queer people to live and thrive. That’s it. I’d like to live my life without being hated for who I am. It’s not about “politics” — the anti people don’t want me to exist.

The reason it was “loud” today was because a bunch of homophobes and transphobes decided to have a hate parade across the country. If there was no march planned by the anti-SOGI people, it would have been a quiet Wednesday.