Ethical Concerns with Applied Behavior Analysis for Autism Spectrum “Disorder”

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Wilkenfeld, D. A. & McCarthy, A. M. (2020). Ethical Concerns with Applied Behavior Analysis for Autism Spectrum “Disorder”. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 30(1), 31-69. https://doi.org/10.1353/ken.2020.0000

Publication date: 1 Jan 2020 Added to AutiHub: 7 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)
  1. Daniel A. Wilkenfeld *
  2. Allison M. McCarthy

Abstract

This paper has both theoretical and practical ambitions. The theoretical ambitions are to explore what would constitute both effective and ethical treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, the practical ambition is perhaps more important: we argue that a dominant form of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which is widely taken to be far-and-away the best "treatment" for ASD, manifests systematic violations of the fundamental tenets of bioethics. Moreover, the supposed benefits of the treatment not only fail to mitigate these violations, but often exacerbate them. Warnings of the perils of ABA are not original to us-autism advocates have been ringing this bell for some years. However, their pleas have been largely unheeded, and ABA continues to be offered to and quite frequently pushed upon parents as the appropriate treatment for autistic children. Our contribution is to argue that, from a bioethical perspective, autism advocates are fully justified in their concerns-the rights of autistic children and their parents are being regularly infringed upon. Specifically, we will argue that employing ABA violates the principles of justice and nonmaleficence and, most critically, infringes on the autonomy of children and (when pushed aggressively) of parents as well.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 01:00.

Cited references
17
With a DOI
16
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
0 / 17 (0.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 17 (5.9%)
References with detected author names
16 / 17 (94.1%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
0
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
41
From DOI or external metadata
41
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
9 / 41 (22.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 32 / 41 (78.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
0 / 41 (0.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 0 / 9 (0.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 0 / 41 (0.0%).
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