Applied Behavior Analysis in the Crosshairs: Neurodiversity, the Intact Mind, and Autism Politics

Abstract

Recent attacks on applied behavior analysis (ABA) by neurodiversity advocates share a common theme with opposition to other supports, such as subminimum wage vocational programs and congregate residential settings: the intact mind assumption, which maintains that even profoundly autistic people have typical intelligence, even if they present as severely cognitively impaired. This article examines the history of the intact mind assumption, which was largely shaped by psychoanalytic theory in the mid-20th century, as well as its impact on contemporary disability policy and practice.