31 August 2022, 3:00 pm to 5 pm CST / 8:00 pm to 10: pm UTC, 8:00 am to 10 am NZST

This online panel discussion was hosted in collaboration with the Neurodiversity Activists at MSU, Mankato. It is part of an ongoing series of discussions within the Autistic community to progress towards comprehensive bans of all forms of Autistic conversion therapies (including ABA).

The discussion includes a pre-recorded segment (part 1), as well as a live panel discussion with a second group of panellists (part 2) that ran on Wednesday 31 August 2022.

Panellists:

Bruce Wenzel, United States

Marie Adrienne Robles Manalili, The Philippines

Karen Muriuki, Kenya

Tania Melnyczuk, South Africa

Alex Kronstein, Canada

Facilitator:

Jorn Bettin, Aotearoa

Organiser:

Bruce Wenzel, president, Neurodiversity Activists, MSU Mankato, United States

Topic: Make Shift Happen

The purpose of the Neurodiversity Activists at MSU, Mankato is, in the words of queer autistic scholar Nick Walker, “to shift the prevailing culture and discourse away from the pathology paradigm and toward the neurodiversity paradigm.”

Since the pathology paradigm implicitly mandates subjecting neurominorities to ABA interventions, “which,” to quote Walker, “have been used to torture and traumatize two generations of autistic children, and which remain popular with parents and professionals despite the warnings of autistic adult survivors,” the 5th International Day of Protest Against ABA is of special interest to our Outstanding Recognized Student Organization, especially considering the event coincides with the Campus and Community Involvement Fair on August 31st! A related recent interview with Bruce Wenzel from MSU on the topic of banning the teaching of ABA serves as the backdrop.

Because MSU is complicit in teaching ABA interventions, it is imperative that we organize an international panel to #MakeShiftHappen on campus and compel candidates for the Minnesota Legislature to #SayNoToABA.

The panellists may share their experience with ABA, recall how they’ve worked to #BanABA in their geography, provide potential pro-neurodiversity alternatives to ABA, and briefly explain to the President’s Commission on Diversity and Student Government why MSU must remove ABA abuse from its curriculums.

In case you have not already done so, please also sign the petition to Ban Autistic Conversion Therapy in Minnesota to ban all forms of conversion therapy in Minnesota.