‘Teaching an Autistic child is just the same as teaching any child social skills. We all need social skills to make friends, form relationships and get interviews and jobs later in life.’
Let’s break down what’s problematic with this statement –
On a basic level the principle behind positive reinforcement is to reward good behaviour or learning.
By positively reinforcing an action the idea is that you are teaching a child how to behave.
Neurodiversity includes every single person in the world. We all need each other and we are all just as important as each other and if people don’t know that or act like that then maybe they have just forgotten this important fact.
So, what is people pleasing?
Simply put, people pleasing is putting someone else’s needs ahead of your own. Now, of course part of being human and co-existing with others means that we all do this from time to time.