I was Forced to Become Right-Handed

I have seen a fellow autistic blogger liken Lovaas-style ABA to being forced to change your dominant hand or dye your hair a different color. Being told "Quiet hands" over and over again reinforces a lack of autonomy. This is a problem for autistic people who are already vulnerable to mistreatment due to communication difficulties. Many of these people report having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of what they have endured. The change I endured was more subconscious, more subtle. You would have never known I had to endure it if I didn't state it outright.

I was forced to become right-handed. 

You read that correctly. In ancient times, left-handed people sometimes had their hands broken in order to force them into right-handedness. I don't know if my parents knew the therapist would train me out of my original handedness, but they knew it was being done and didn't bother to voice their concerns (if changing my handedness was of any concern to them).

I did not have my left hand broken, amputated, or deformed in any way. It is intact and within a "normal" range of function. Instead, the change came on without physical pain, but with a subconscious reminder of my lack of power. The therapist made me catch a ball with my right hand instead of my left. Eventually, the change became ingrained so deeply my right hand acquired dominance. I was made to do something unnatural so many times it became a habit, and thus, "natural". I didn't scream, cry, or try to resist because I didn't know any better (I was very young at the time, probably 4 or 5 years.). In fact, I maintained the face of being a good little girl so well that the reality of the situation was invisible to untrained eyes.

The analogy above is my literal, bare-bones reality. My current right-handedness will forever serve as a reminder of what other autistic people were (and are) forced to endure. If you are deciding on therapies for an autistic person, who will you listen to? Will you choose to listen to (most likely) neurotypical "experts" trying to sell a method or the autistic people who have experienced these therapies for themselves?

Note: 

• Some therapies are called ABA when they are nothing like what I have described. 
• This is not the same as offering an alternative to a harmful behavior. 
• Forcing someone out of what is natural for them, regardless of how natural or unnatural it is to you, is not to be done.
• If they don't appear to have any adverse reactions, it is still wrong, so stop.
• Cognitive abilities, age, race, size, and functioning level do not matter. If you are forcing someone to be someone they are not in any way, then stop.
• The illusion of happiness or immediate gratification from these ABA therapies is not true happiness. Sure, the person might enjoy the reward while it lasts, but this has nothing to do with their overview of themselves.