Social Media and ABA: Yes, Please!

Look up three local ABA agencies in your area on Facebook. At least one will prominently feature pictures and videos showcasing how much fun their clients are having with their peers during a circle time or social play session. There is truly nothing better than scrolling through the photos of these kids with autism and marveling at how lucky they are to be receiving services from ABA royalty; how selfless and admirable the owner of this practice must be. It would be sacrilege not to smash that like button and follow these guys, which I always do. After scrolling through their Facebook page for an hour, I really feel like I know these kids and love seeing the progress they make.  Kind of like a sitcom for ABA providers. 

I realize how selfish this must sound. After all, shouldn’t pictures of treatment do more than simply bring joy to a stranger such as myself? Is it selfish of me to admire from my desk the massive gains in verbal behavior these kids are making? Perhaps, but the kiddos receiving medical treatment arguably get even more joy when their provider routinely markets their practice with their image and diagnosis. A lot of these kids don’t have Facebook pages or are too young to even have a Facebook page. Some of these kids also have parents that don’t share their daily lives with the public and would otherwise have little or no social media presence without their thoughtful ABA providers.  It is simply unacceptable and cruel to think that a teacher looking up students in her class on social media would be unable to find anything about a child’s medical diagnoses to help explain a lack of progress or behavior issues at school.  Worse still, what if fifteen years from now, that child has a first date with someone that needs to know about the medical treatment they received as a toddler? 

The internet is blamed for a lot of things; preserving a permanent record of everything posted is one thing the creators of the internet got right. It has been decades since anyone discriminated against people with disabilities and giving these kids a metaphorical scarlet letter might actually help them since bullies also no longer exist. Isn’t it cute though how some of the photos will have hilarious emojis over the face of the kid, momentarily making you second guess whether that is James or Tucker with the new friend at circle time. I’m glad they don’t make it too hard to keep up with their silly clients, because I kind of feel like I have a right to know how they are doing. I do care about their well being. If I’m ever in that part of the country, I’d love to meet their families. I love UNO, just like James. A game night would go over well I think, though I’m having some difficulty locating his parents on Facebook.  I hope they’re alright. They must be alright though, cause James made it to therapy today.  The provider also started adding ‘photo approved’ when posting pictures of their medical treatment. I hope it was his parents who approved and they are safe and ok. 

If you’re like me, you’re experiencing some pretty awesome nostalgia right about now. I, for one, remember how special it made me feel when my surgeon posted a selfie of the two of us while putting a plate and screws in my broken ankle, though the lighting was not great and made me appear pale. I was also incubated.  Wait a second, that didn’t happen. My surgeon wasn’t a complete, fucking moron. If you are just now realizing this whole article was satirical, you might be part of the problem. Am I the only one who sees the irony in a provider posting about assent with a picture showing a child receiving services who certainly did not give consent for the picture? Jesus Christ, I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. Don’t check Facebook though, cause I didn’t get these pills from a doctor.