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Building Meaningful Careers: Exploring Opportunities at Waypoints

One of our guiding principles at Waypoints is that the best client outcomes are derived from well-compensated and well-trained staff. As our CEO David Bergmark described in our company’s origin story, Waypoints was established with the goal of prioritizing the wellbeing of our employees. This is especially important for our behavior technicians, who are all too often overworked and underappreciated in the field of ABA. 

Our accreditation by the Behavioral Health Center for Excellence (BHCOE) has provided excellent frameworks to help ensure that we maintain our focus on and meet that goal as our company grows. For example, the BHCOE has affirmed that we “support continuing education and credential maintenance needs of staff in line with their certification,” as well as “provide enhanced education opportunities to staff appropriate to their specific areas of need.” 

In this blog post, we’re excited to showcase the diverse and meaningful career opportunities available at Waypoints. By highlighting what makes working with us unique, we hope to inspire readers who are passionate about supporting skill development for autistic youth to consider joining our team! 

Pursuing a Career in ABA

A career in applied behavior analysis (ABA) might involve designing and overseeing skill acquisition programs, assisting in their implementation with clients, supervising y training others – or a combination of these roles! For a more detailed exploration of the common responsibilities of behavior technicians and clinicians, check out our past blog post at this link. 

As our company has grown, we have diversified employee roles in order to better support their personal career goals. To highlight a few: 

  • Todos behavior technicians who join our team complete a standardized 40-hour training about ABA, followed by approximately 30 more hours of additional training, shadowing, and hands-on practice before working independently with clients. At this level, technicians are responsible for implementing programs and collecting data. Explore what a typical session at Waypoints looks like with one of our dedicated technicians, Kiersten, in her insightful blog post.  
  • Any technician has the opportunity to become a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) and earn a raise in the process. RBTs receive intensive training to help them prepare for their certification exams and annual recertification. The advanced expertise associated with certification allows RBTs to assist with training, mentoring, and assessing other technicians. For more detailed information on the certification paths for both technicians and clinicians, you can explore yet another of our past blog posts at this link.. 
  • While not all technicians choose the path to becoming clinicians, it’s a common career progression. One requirement for becoming a Analista de comportamiento certificado por la junta (BCBA) is completing fieldwork. In addition to the responsibilities noted above, technicians who log fieldwork hours also gradually take on clinical roles by assisting with client assessments, program development, data analysis, and case conceptualization, all under the close supervision of an experienced BCBA. 
  • Technicians may also be interested in taking on more administrative duties, such as helping to onboard new clients and employees, creating materials used during sessions, or even managing our social media accounts. (Big shout out to Allena for taking care of our Facebook y Instagram, and Andrea for our LinkedIn!) If there’s a task at our company that you’re interested in learning more about, chances are we can create an opportunity for you to get hands-on experience with it. 

Learning Opportunities on the Job 

At Waypoints, our company culture emphasizes communication and collaboration, and you’ll see this reflected in our day-to-day operations. In addition to the standard training provided to all of our employees as mentioned earlier, we continually share learning opportunities among our team members. Moreover, we actively support our employees in taking advantage of those opportunities – this includes paid time for training related to client support and reimbursement of costs for general professional development.

This year, we’ve had the pleasure of attending Assent Con and the Black Applied Behavior Analysts conference as a group. Attending conferences becomes even more rewarding when we can reflect and learn together! Additionally, we maintain a shared company chat where we regularly post about continuing education events.

As Waypoints’ Training Director, one of my personal goals is to regularly invite external experts to share their knowledge with our team. So far, this has included consultation on development of our website and strategic plan, a Q&A session with science communicator Dr. Jey McCreight, workshops for our clinicians, and a blog post sharing valuable resources from autistic voices written by the fantastic Lauren Neely. 

[H2] Join our Team! 

A career in ABA can have a profound impact on both our autistic clients and their families, as well as on ourselves as technicians and clinicians. Facilitating and witnessing the progress and accomplishments of the people we work with, clients and coworkers alike, makes all of the hard work well worth the while. 

 

If you’d like to look into joining our team, you guessed it, we have a blog post for that too! Check out How to Get Hired at Waypoints, or reach out to us to start a conversation at info@waypoints.life. 

“I feel so excited to be working with you all on my goals! It is refreshing and reassuring to have SO much positivity, excitement, and support!”

“My supervisor has been amazing at answering questions in a comprehensive way, and I feel that I’ve been more supported here than any other company I’ve worked with.”

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If you’re reading this blog, perhaps you’ve already looked into applying to work with us here at Waypoints via Indeed, LinkedIn, our Facebook page, or even elsewhere on our website. RBT and BCBA jobs are widely available in Michigan and throughout the country, so on behalf of everyone at our company, I’m honored that you’re looking into what we have to offer for employment.

The links above describe the basics of job requirements at Waypoints, and those requirements tend to be pretty similar across all companies offering applied behavior analysis (ABA) services. To become a behavior technician, applicants must be a minimum of 18 years of age and have a high school diploma or equivalent. Clinicians must ultimately become Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), which requires completion of a master’s degree, but we also support clinicians-in-training who are completing their fieldwork for certification or starting out as Qualified Behavioral Health Providers (QBHPs). Those are a lot of acronyms! You can learn more about different potential careers in ABA in an earlier blog post, How to Become and ABA Practitioner.

In this post, though, I will focus on the full process of applying for employment at Waypoints in particular, step by step. And anyone taking the initiative to read this in preparation for an interview is already impressing us!

Three children at a table filled with art supplies and activities

The Application Process

The first step, of course, is simply to send in an application. As someone who had to drop off resumes and applications in person back in the day, I’m pleased that sites like Indeed make this process much easier. Indeed will even create a resume for you based on your input, if you don’t already have one written.

While it’s always great to see past experience that would indicate readiness to work in the field of behavior analysis, or even more generally to work one-on-one with children and adolescents, a specific kind of employment history is not required. We are confident that the training we provide before any employee work with clients will prepare you well.

Perhaps you have volunteer or familial experience or feel that an applied behavior analysis job would be right for you based on something you’ve read, watched, or heard. No matter what draws you to apply for a position at Waypoints, we want to know about it! In your resume (and possibly a cover letter if you choose to include one), try to highlight what made the position interesting to you, as well as what you think might make you a good fit for the position.

If you’re not entirely sure whether Waypoints would in fact be the right employer for you, that’s okay too, and it’s something that can be investigated further in your interview!

After you apply, keep an eye on your email inbox for the invitation to schedule an interview time. Since we work with clients in their homes and do not have a central office location, everyone on the Waypoints team predominantly communicates with each other online. Promptly and professionally responding to emails is an easy way to stand out right away.

The Interview Process

Needless to say, attending the scheduled interview on time and well-prepared is always appreciated! In addition to online communication, we rely heavily on our employees referring to their schedules and calendars regularly, so this is another opportunity to demonstrate that skillset to us. And good news – by reading this blog you’re well on your way to being thoroughly prepared for the actual interview questions!

Naturally, specific questions will vary based on the position applied for and how the conversation between interviewer and applicant progresses, but we generally like to cover five major topics:

  • Professional communication: Are you prepared to respond promptly and clearly via email and phone? Are you comfortable speaking with coworkers and clients face-to-face?
  • Knowledge of and experience with behavior analysis:
  • Self-advocacy: Do you take the initiative to ask questions and request support that you need?
  • Responsiveness to feedback: How do you prefer to receive feedback from supervisors? How do you respond to critical feedback, or feedback that you disagree with?
  • Time management and organization: How do you maintain a good work/life balance? Will you be able to meet clients’ needs, without sacrificing your own?

If after the first interview we agree that we’d be a good fit for each other, we will then schedule a brief follow-up interview to give you the opportunity to meet more of the Waypoints team and ask any additional questions that may occur to you. This is an important chance for you to ensure that we will meet your needs in terms of workload, schedule, career goals, and company culture.

Career Paths

In order to determine whether we will be a good fit for your career goals, you might need to reflect on what exactly those goals are and what your options are!

While we don’t necessarily expect employees to stay working with us here at Waypoints forever, we want to make sure that the time you DO spend with us is rewarding and beneficial to you in the future. In addition to providing support for clinicians-in-training, we also provide diverse opportunities for our BCBAs to collect research data, present at conferences or in professional development workshops for fellow employees, and of course develop their supervisory and training repertoires.

Technicians also have a variety of options for growth within Waypoints. Before onboarding, all technicians must complete a 40-hour training to help set a foundation for understanding the science of behavior analysis and common applied procedures. That’s a common requirement within the field, so if you’ve already done this, you’re unlikely to need to complete it again! The next steps from there, though, are flexible.

To obtain the Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) credential, employees must then complete an on-the-job competency assessment and pass a certification exam. However, certification is not required for employment; as noted earlier in this post, we’re confident that our training will prepare all employees to work equally well with clients, regardless of whether they then choose to become RBTs. There are several career paths available within Waypoints, certified or not!

You may choose to take on more of an administrative role over time, helping out with creation of training and program materials or translating documents into clients’ preferred languages. You may also wish to grow into a training role yourself, teaching new technicians to work effectively with their clients and providing valuable feedback. If you would like to become a BCBA someday, you could work closely with our clinicians during fieldwork to learn the ropes of assessment, data analysis, and program development, and see firsthand what all goes into BCBA jobs.

Next Steps

I believe we have a lot to offer here at Waypoints, as a behavior analyst-run company that is dedicated to being client- and employee-focused. If we’ve caught your eye as a potential employer, you can learn more about our mission and values on our website at https://waypoints.life/mission-and-values/, and our rigorous clinical and professional standards in this blog post.

Getting started in a career at Waypoints begins with being responsive via email, attending interviews and meetings on time, answering questions honestly, demonstrating investment in care and support for clients, and asking us questions to show that you’re truly considering whether we would be a good fit for you. Seriously, be sure to interview us as much as we’re interviewing you! If you’re interested, check out our available positions on Indeed. And if you’d like to learn more first, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us through our website at https://waypoints.life/careers/.

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Having a support network in place plays an important role in improving and maintaining wellbeing for people of all ages. Even the most fiercely independent or introverted of us still has an innate need for social support. This is something that is basically hardwired into our DNA, likely from earlier times when humans needed to band together for survival. While we may not need to form tribes for protection against predators and other threats in the wild anymore, this trait will probably always remain.

Our social nature is part of the reason we have the common saying, “it takes a village to raise a child.” This is something that is consistently proven to be true, especially because many puzzle pieces come together to form a whole picture.

Along with the concept of raising a kid, socialness is important for a child’s health. Sure, children rely on adults for basic needs like food, water, and shelter, but it goes deeper than that. Children have social needs that can impact—positively or negatively—emotional and mental health and wellbeing. These needs can vary in degree, but they are present for virtually any child, including those who are autistic.

As we look at autism support networks and systems, it can help to break them into different social areas.

A child holding the hand of an adult and looking up

The Family Unit as a Support System

Families of origin are often, but obviously not always, the first kind of social support networks humans receive. In the case of support systems for autism, this can be a particularly valuable one. While providing basic needs (food, shelter) is a form of support given to any child born into a loving, stable home, autistic children can benefit even more from the home environment.

As we noted in our post, How to Support Autistic Loved Ones at Home, there are possible physical supports that might benefit an autistic son or daughter at home. These can include visual aids and reminders, sensory activities, and proper lighting. More than that, though, the social support from home life can really benefit an autistic youth by having what is likely the deepest understanding of the child as an individual.

In the same way that all neurodivergent people are different and have their own preferences and ways of doing things, so too is the case with autistic people. And, as we talk about support networks, family members can have the greatest insight into what their sibling or child needs for structure, downtime, sensory experiences, and communication.

Support Systems in School

For autistic children who are enrolled in school, they have opportunities to have support networks there. Within this context, special and general education teachers, social workers, administrators, and even parents call all be part of a support system for autistic students.

If you have an autistic child who is taking classes, it is highly recommended that they have an IEP (individualized education plan). These plans provide structure and guidance so that students receive what they need to be in the best possible position for success. The individualized element is quite important because, as was noted, not all autistic students have the same needs. By ensuring that your child has an IEP in place, you should be able to know that their unique nature is being taken into consideration.

With this kind of tool, autistic students should have (and be able to receive) everything they need to thrive in the educational environment.

Community-Based Support Networks

Another way to build a support network for your autistic son or daughter is to research activities and programs they may be interested in. While a school-based support network can play its role in your child’s wellbeing, this branching out can be quite beneficial for developmental purposes. After all, it is quite helpful to be able to interact with the world around us as humans age into adulthood. And building networks within the community can create safe, positive environments where your child can thrive while surrounded by people who understand them and what they need.

Parents, you can team up with other parents who understand the struggles and access to resources. All it takes is spending some time with your child on the spectrum and paying attention to what they take interest in and how they interact with it. Those small observations can lead you to finding activities and resources that align with your observations. Despite the network in the school setting, you will be establishing a network within the community.

In addition to finding community-based options for your child, you may find support groups to be helpful for you and other family members. Many individuals find these to be beneficial resources where they are surrounded by other families who experience the same kinds of situations they do. This can really ease any sense of isolation, loneliness, and frustration you may be feeling.

Beyond that, you will find that participants often help each other out by sharing information on medical or educational services, programs, and other resources available in the community, county, or state. And you can get advice from others who may have experienced similar situations or problems and share your own coping techniques that worked for you (https://koriathome.com, 2022). While it might be easier to see the benefits of getting advice from others, being able to share and know that you are helping others is a wonderful feeling.

As an assessment specialist, support groups are one of the resources I always suggest to families because most feel alone in the situation. Exposing them to others who share similar experiences will help alleviate those feelings and they can learn more effective ways to assist their child.

Support Here at Waypoints

Waypoints provides follow-ups to help parents understand and to link to other resources that help build a positive support network. With an open-door policy, families can reach out to us anytime they have a concern or just need to vent about a situation. At Waypoints, we do our best to find a solution and link families to tools that can help reduce negative feelings and promote positive change and support.

If you ever want or need to get in touch, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (616) 251-8162 or send an email to info@waypoints.life!

References

How to Build a Support Network as a Special Needs Parent. 2022. https://koriathome.com/special-needs-parents-need-support/.

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In a previous blog post, Find the Best Autism Services in Michigan for Your Family, I reviewed many of the therapeutic and disability-accommodating resources that our state has to offer. At the time, Waypoints was operating exclusively in Ottawa County, and so I focused on that particular region when rounding up recommendations. However, many options in and around Grand Rapids were listed there as well – I encourage you to take a look, if you haven’t yet!

And good news – Waypoints is now contracted with Network 180 in Kent County too! This means that individuals and families in the greater Grand Rapids community will receive information about our company when seeking out services through their insurance providers. But why go with Waypoints among all of the options available?

A parent playing with a child

Timely Services

Oftentimes, the choice of company to provide Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services is simply a matter of which one has availability of both care team providers and session times that accommodate everyone’s schedules.

At Waypoints, we are currently hiring additional Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) and behavior technicians to help support clientele in our new geographic reach. Currently, we maintain an average of just 15 days between receiving a client referral and beginning assessments, and 60 days between that referral and the start of in-home services.

As described in our blog post regarding barriers to ABA services in Michigan, part of that wait time is governed by waiting for approvals from insurance providers, but our scheduling team works hard to be ready to hit the ground running as soon as we get the green light.

Our Values and Goals

As is the case with many similar companies, Waypoints offers one-on-one in-home ABA sessions, which can help with goal-setting, education, self-help and -advocacy, and skill-building in general. What we believe sets us apart is our client-centered focus on assent during all steps of services, and our celebration of neurodiversity.

Unfortunately, ABA can be used in harmful ways, and that is something that we always keep in mind when applying the science of behavior analysis. While we do provide behavior reduction support upon request, we do so only with direct client input and with the use of least-restrictive techniques.

As part of our wholehearted support of the neurodiversity movement, we assert that autism is not something to be cured. Instead, our focus is on offering learning opportunities and support to help navigate a world that is often lacking in accommodations. To that end, we actually do not conceptualize our use of ABA as therapy in the usual sense of the word, but rather as a skill-building tool.

If you would like to learn more about our use of ABA, please feel free to visit our ABA skills training services page, as well as previous blog posts such as Análisis de comportamiento aplicado en términos simples y What ABA Therapists Do!

Our Qualifications

Waypoints is owned and operated solely by BCBAs, two of whom are doctoral-level. We strongly believe that client-centered services are often hindered by the impact of financial interests of people who are not prioritizing clinical needs, so this is an important distinction.

While each client’s case is overseen by a clinical supervisor, employees in the role of behavior technicians are our direct service providers. Each of our behavior technicians complete a minimum of 40 hours of training before onboarding with us, followed by another 30 hours on average of training and feedback from experienced practitioners, all before they ever work independently with a client.

Technicians also receive a raise for formalizing their qualifications by becoming Registered Behavior Technicians – we greatly value ongoing professional development! An excellent description of what ABA sessions look like at Waypoints, written by one of our technicians, can be found at this blog post.

While technicians are the backbone of ABA services, we believe that a high level of contact with our clinical supervisors is also critical. The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) requires that at least 5% of session times be overseen by a BCBA, but at Waypoints we aim for a minimum of 10%, and in the past two months I’m proud to say that we’ve averaged over 15%.

Get in Touch!

Above all, our mission is to provide our clients with highly trained, well-supported staff in pursuit of optimal outcomes in meeting their goals. Back in February of 2022, we received preliminary accreditation by the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (BHCOE), and are now on track to earn full accreditation in the new year – all of our support documentation was submitted yesterday, as of this writing! We’re proud and honored to be able to make our services a part of autism support in Kent County now, along with continuing to support autistic clients and their families in Ottawa County.

If it sounds like Waypoints would be a good fit for you or your loved one, I hope you’ll reach out to us at https://waypoints.life/contact-us/, or take a moment to learn more about the services we provide at https://waypoints.life/our-services/.

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If you (or a family member or friend) are a part of the autistic community, you are almost certainly aware of the organization Autism Speaks. Founded in 2005, it is by far the most prominent autism research organization in the USA. You may associate it with the movement to “light it up blue” in support of autism awareness, or its fundraising activities, like its annual walks held in many cities nationwide.

You also may have heard, though, of controversies surrounding this organization. The autistic community has raised several serious concerns with their practices, which I’ll review in this post for consideration. While some improvements have been made in more recent years, the history and underlying principles of Autism Speaks continue to bear scrutiny.

 

Concerns with Autism Speaks

The reasons why people don’t like Autism Speaks are well-documented, and in this post my focus will be on amplifying autistic voices on the topic. Bear in mind, though, that “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” Perhaps ironically, that quote is from Dr. Stephen Shore, an autistic board member of Autism Speaks. No community is a monolith, and there will always be mixed opinions about this organization as well as any other topic.

With that being said, the most serious concerns with Autism Speaks revolve around three main topics: the goals of the organization, how they communicate those goals, and how they allocate their significant funding.

Ableist Goals

While the mission statement of Autism Speaks currently states that it is “dedicated to promoting solutions, across the spectrum and throughout the lifespan, for the needs of individuals with autism and their families,” the organization has its roots in the anti-vaccine movement with the intention to identify the causes of autism and then prevent or end its occurrence.

As I’ve written about in a previous blog post, autism cannot be cured, and attempts to do so are harmful in and of themselves. Much of the research funded by Autism Speaks is in accordance with the medical model of disability, seeking to discover “solutions” to autism rather than supports for autistic people. As autistic rights activist Paula Durbin-Westby put it, Autism Speaks treats autism as a disorder or disease, which has different connotations than treating it as a disability.

Autism Speaks also provides ongoing promotion and support for the Judge Rotenberg Center, an institution that continues to practice contingent electric skin shock (CESS) with autistic and other disabled patients, despite its demonstrated risks and harm. In spite of Autism Speaks removing its goal of curing autism in 2016, this is yet another action that demonstrates an underlying goal of changing autistic people to fit in with the norm. Incidentally, support of the JRC is a problem within the field of ABA as well, which I’ve covered in another post.

Harmful Language

Again, the goals and actions of Autism Speaks have in part changed over the years since its founding, but much of the language used by the organization in advertisement of its initiatives is still deeply problematic.

Language and actions must be considered side by side with each other, but ableist terminology can be an indicator of ableist beliefs, whether conscious or subconscious. Our most recent blog post, How to Support Autism Awareness and Acceptance, discusses some facets of language to keep in mind when working to become a good advocate for the autistic community.

Perhaps the most high-profile example of this issue was the “I Am Autism” promotional video which originally aired in 2009. It premiered at the United Nations World Focus on Autism Conference, and while Autism Speaks no longer hosts it on its website (due to the massive backlash against it), the video is still available through many sources online. Frankly, it is hurtful enough that I’m hesitant to link to it directly. Suffice it to say that it frames autism as a harmful and insidious force, blaming it for everything from bankruptcy to divorce.

A ten-year retrospective of the video and other harmful forms of “outreach” by Autism Speaks was published by Shannon Des Roches Rosa in her article Things Left Unsaid. A review and critique of the video that was published in Time can be found at this link, and the full transcript can be found aquí – but please be aware that the content may be troubling to read.

Even outside of this one prominent example, Autism Speaks and its founding members have continued to compare being autistic to disasters, diseases, and other threats, as reviewed in this joint letter to the sponsors of the organization platformed by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) here.

A child putting stickers on a window

 

Financial Concerns

It can certainly be argued that regardless of the history of Autism Speaks and concerns with how its values and goals are communicated, the organization’s actions should speak louder than its words.

Whether the actions of Autism Speaks have done enough to combat these other concerns is a matter of opinion. This flyer provided by (ASAN), updated annually, reports that only 1% of the budget of Autism Speaks is allocated toward providing supports for autistic individuals and their families. The biggest slice of funding goes toward lobbying for “awareness” of autism, but awareness alone is not enough.

Research accounts for 24% of the budget, but as mentioned previously, the goals of said research are often suspect. According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Inter-Agency Autism Coordinating Committee, 1% of money allocated for research goes toward investigation of methods for improved service quality, and less than 0.25% toward topics related to the needs of autistic adults.

A New Way Forward

Some improvements to Autism Speaks have been achieved since its inception in 2005. One huge historical concern has been the lack of representation by autistic people on the board of the organization.

In 2015, Autism Speaks did announce its appointment of two autistic people to the board of directors. However, ASAN notes that this in and of itself does not address the remaining concerns of prioritization of the medical model of disability with “an imbalanced budget which allocates the majority of their finances towards biomedical research and fundraising… investing little towards services and supports” and “profoundly harmful language and rhetoric in their advertising, fundraising, and ‘awareness’ campaigns.”

As an example of how more inclusive and neurodiversity-affirming research can be pursued, ASAN is a supporter of Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). In a nutshell, CBPR entails community involvement with both the creation of research questions and agreement upon its goals and methods. The Academic Autistic Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education (AASPIRE) provides more information about CBPR on its website.

Overall, the “branding” and outreach of Autism Speaks has shifted to more prominently feature the voices of autistic people, and also to provide resources for autistic adults rather than marketing strictly to parents of autistic children. This year, the senior social media manager of Autism Speaks (who is autistic herself) wrote an article in support of the organization. A more detailed level of disclosure of the research and fundraising goals of Autism Speaks, along with de-platforming of harmful organizations such as the JRC, would likely go along way toward rehabilitating its image.

Alternative Supports

In the meantime, there are so many other organizations offering resources for and by autistic people that can be celebrated and supported instead of Autism Speaks. Here are just a few:

Michigan’s council and The Arc chapter can be found at https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/keep-mi-healthy/mentalhealth/developmentaldisability y https://thearc.org/chapter/the-arc-michigan/ respectively!

It can be difficult and even dangerous for autistic people to speak up and be heard about their concerns regarding Autism Speaks as an organization. Katie Miller wrote about just one example of the exhaustion involved in in self-advocacy and protest in a blog post hosted at ASAN.

I hope that this post helps to ease that burden, even if just a little, and also allows you as the reader to make an informed decision about supporting Autism Speaks or not. Is Autism Speaks bad? That is a complicated question to answer, but at the least there are improvements that can clearly still be made by the organization.

You can learn more about our mission and values here at Waypoints at https://waypoints.life/mission-and-values/, as well as via our frequently asked questions page. We are explicitly supportive of neurodiversity and focused on individualized changes to the environment to help support learning – never suppression of autistic traits and voices.

If you would like to chat more with any of our team about Autism Speaks or anything else regarding the neurodiversity movement, we would love for you to reach out to us at info@waypoints.life.

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While Autism Acceptance Month is April, promoting awareness, acceptance, and advocacy shouldn’t be limited to a 30-day period! There are steps we can take all year long to learn how to support autism awareness and acceptance and become the best possible allies for the autistic community.

If you are seeking to learn how to increase awareness of and support for the autistic community, I always recommend learning directly from members of that community whenever possible. As just one example, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) provides an excellent resource library, and most recently published Foundations for Inclusive Advocacy. There are also many talking points provided aquí, para conversaciones con representantes gubernamentales o hablar en las redes sociales.

With that being said, I appreciate you ending up here at Waypoints to read more about this topic! One of our core values is that we are explicitly supportive of neurodiversity and focused on individualized changes to the environment to help support learning. As a neurotypical ally, I would like to share in this post what I’ve learned regarding autism acceptance on my journey so far.

A parent holding up a young child in play

Benefits of Acceptance and Advocacy

Why is autism awareness and acceptance so important in the first place? This is not simply an issue of making autistic people feel better in an abstract sense. As the ASAN states, the goal of real activism should be to help ensure “access to health care, education, and employment.” This can also extend to access to accommodating social events and recreational activities, as well as active care and support from neurotypical family and friends.

An excellent article from 2016, Autism and Normalization, also makes the point that “anything short of full acceptance is a kind of othering, and always dehumanizing to some extent. Usually, for something to be accepted, it needs to be seen as within the bounds of normality.” This does no mean that autistic people must act “normal” in order to be accepted. Quite the opposite – society’s definition of “normal” must expand to accommodate the true diversity of human life! Taking action to help accomplish that lofty goal can help reduce the dehumanization that autistic people experience.

I wrote in a post earlier this year that “autism and neurodiversity should be accepted and celebrated, and this goal can be achieved through increased awareness and education by the neurodiverse community directly.” However, self-advocacy and education efforts on the part of members of the autistic community can be exhausting. To ease this burden and take the initiative, neurotypical people can seek out already-available educational resources and take action themselves.

Avoiding Ableism

One way to support autism awareness and acceptance, and the neurodiversity movement in general, is to be mindful of word choices when talking about autism. While language alone isn’t enough, it can be a huge step toward examining and changing our own ableist biases, and also help to prevent microaggressions.

This recent New York Times guest essay offers an engaging perspective on how and why to interrogate the language we use in everyday life. In it, the author shares how “[b]eing unafraid to ask the question — ‘Is that ableist?’ — is a crucial step in unraveling our society’s entrenched biases and discrimination against disabled people, who make up about 20 percent of the U.S. population.”

Additional considerations and resources related to the importance of language in the context of supporting the autistic community include:

  • In this blog post, I reviewed a few different terms related to neurodiversity – it is a good starting point for reviewing the differences between neurodiversity and neurodivergence, and when those terms can be most appropriately used.
  • Avoid language related to the medical model of disability – in another post, I discussed why we at Waypoints don’t refer to anything related to “curing” autism, and yet another covers our perspective on ABA as a tool to help support autistic clients, not a therapy. Similarly, we do not proclaim to intervene upon “maladaptive” or “problem” behavior. All behavior is adaptive in some way to the person engaging in it, or else it wouldn’t be happening. Calling behavior a “problem” begs the question of who it’s a problem for. Instead, we might reference “challenging” behavior that clients wish to change for themselves, which could entail things like habit reduction or learning and improving new skills.
  • Person-first vs. identity-first language – Julia Bascom wrote an excellent blog post explaining what has become the autistic community’s clearly stated preference for identity-first language. In other words, it is typically preferred to refer to someone as an “autistic person” rather than “a person with autism.” Saying “autistic person” acknowledges autism as a part of that person’s identity, without the connotation of it being something to be minimized or eliminated. Of course, people have different preferences that should always be honored, so be sure to take an individual’s feedback regarding how they personally would like to be referred to!
  • Avoid “guardrailing” – this is less about specific words and phrases, and more about how we speak to and about autistic individuals (and other disabled people in general). Guardrailing is “the phenomenon that occurs when non-disabled people give more rules, supervision, guidance, direction, and oversight to disabled people.” This can be insulting and infantilizing, and can also prevent independence and freedom of choice.

Advocating for Accommodations

Another great active step is to make environments as accommodating as possible, whenever you have the power to do so! Even if you can’t make needed changes directly, speaking up to ask about and request accommodations is often an incredibly valuable contribution. Someone who actively needs those accommodations but doesn’t see them offered may simply decide not to go to a particular location or attend an event rather than “making a fuss,” especially if their efforts have been punished or ignored in the past.

In this recent article, autistic adults requesting workplace adjustments in the UK reported that they “felt the onus fell on them to (1) identify their need for adjustments; (2) establish the specific adjustments that would be beneficial and (3) request adjustments from their employer. Yet, they reported struggling with this process.” An ally who has the energy and ability to speak up and enact change can offer a lot of relief. Here are a few things that you could keep an eye out for, and ask location/event managers to actively advertise or provide in the first place:

  • Access to helpful tools or permission to bring and use one’s own tools, such as noise-cancelling headphones, a comfortable seat insert, software with accessibility features, or communication devices
  • Ability for remote attendance, and/or attendance at days or times that allow for avoidance of rush hour driving, fewer crowds, or less noise
  • Flexibility with dress codes such that uncomfortable or restrictive clothing isn’t required
  • Subtitles or speech-to-text captioning and/or a note-taker at live events
  • Support staff who are prepared to communicate in diverse ways, such as through sign language, written notes, picture exchange (e.g., PECS), text-to-speech software, or other communication devices
  • “Low sensory” areas with few loud noises or flashing lights, and low unpredictability in general
  • Clear written and/or visual aids, such as instructions regarding how to order at a restaurant, directions to bathrooms or quiet areas, or event schedules

You can also seek out volunteering opportunities at agencies that have taken the necessary steps to provide good accommodations, or simply promote them and give them your business! I recently put together a list of such therapeutic services, events, and activities in the Grand Rapids area in this post.

Ally Is a Verb

I bookmarked a quote by Maya Angelou years ago, as a reminder to myself that allyship requires growth and that growth shouldn’t be shied away from. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” If you haven’t been adjusting your language or taking these actions, THAT’S OK! You took the initiative to learn more about how to support autism awareness and acceptance, and that’s a huge step. There are more steps to take, but that is always the case as long as we continue to learn and grow.

If you would like to learn more about ways to support the autistic community, I encourage you to click through to the links I’ve included in this post, some of which are our own past blog posts but many of which include resources provided autistic people directly. A core principle for any ally should be to listen and defer to the people that we’re meant to be allying with. If you would like any assistance with accessing further resources, or would like to discuss opportunities for advocacy, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@waypoints.life!

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