Hi Elizabeth,
In general I'm not a fan of strident rhetoric. Parts of the ND movement are too "hot" for me. Then again, lots of people have huge reasons to be angry, and I respect that. And the "nothing about us without us" reasoning articulated by ND advocates holds true for me-- autistic people should have the right to help determine what needs they have and what will help them best.
I am a fan of ABA-- it worked wonderful for us and has made possible tremendous personal growth for DS. That said, there have been a few times when I had to overrule our (otherwise good) practitioners who were dead wrong about what was good for DS's learning. I think there are good and bad practitioners and that it's really important to consider all the human and affective dimensions of learning.
DS has found the ND perspective helpful in articulating that there's nothing "wrong" with him. (Can you imagine sitting in a school assembly where the speaker is telling everyone how awful autism is, and we should raise money for the poor autistics-- and you have it?) He's now the guy who can politely challenge the speaker on that point.
I think the basic principle of presuming competence-- that is, not writing someone off because they are disabled-- should apply to all people with disabilities, not just autism. I do think that the ND movement is helping to articulate a major civil rights movement for our time. With this I can make common cause, at least sometimes.
