When we launched the National Society of Autism Professionals (NSAP) in early May, we had a clear vision to bring together the professionals who support autistic individuals and their families across the lifespan and give this field the shared voice we have never had.
Since then, I've spent less time at a desk and more time in conversations with clinicians, researchers, educators, business owners, advocates, workplace inclusion experts, innovators and many others – the people we hope to bring together, and the people who will shape what NSAP becomes. I've attended conferences, met with organizations, spoken with professionals across disciplines and, most importantly, listened.
Some of what I heard confirmed what I already believed. Some of it changed my thinking.
Three things stand out:
The field is ready to come together
The response to NSAP has been incredibly encouraging.
Nearly every conversation I've had ended with genuine excitement about what this organization could become. People have reached out on LinkedIn, asked to meet, introduced me to colleagues and shared ideas about where the field should go next. That level of enthusiasm tells me that we’ve started something important and that something was missing.
Professionals aren't looking for another organization competing for attention. They're looking for a place where disciplines can actually talk to each other.
That doesn't mean everyone agrees on every issue. They don’t. But, underneath the differing opinions, I keep hearing the same underlying desire for less fragmentation, more collaboration and a stronger voice for the professionals doing the work every day.
Autism is bigger than ABA
One early realization: When people hear ‘autism professional,’ they often think ‘behavior analyst’ first.
That isn't necessarily surprising. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has become one of the most visible and organized segments of autism services and it plays an important role for many autistic individuals and their families. But ABA is only one part of a much bigger picture.
Autistic individuals don't experience life through a single model of care. Across childhood and adulthood, they work with speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, developmental pediatricians, educators, employment specialists, direct support professionals, researchers and many others. Each brings a different perspective. Each affects real outcomes.
I’m more convinced than ever: NSAP is not an ABA organization. NSAP is an autism organization built around the full range of professionals whose work impacts autistic lives. That distinction is the whole point. And, right now, that distinction is not just conceptual.
When policymakers, payers or the media think about autism only through the lens of ABA, the rest of the picture goes missing. That narrowing has consequences right now, not eventually. Real fraud, waste and abuse in ABA billing gave state Medicaid agencies a legitimate problem to solve, and they are right to solve it. But the regulations built to catch bad actors are landing on good ones too – the ABA clinics doing rigorous, ethical work. And because “autism” and “ABA” have become the same word in too many regulators’ minds, the impact doesn’t stop there. It spreads to psychologists, counselors, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, educators and every other discipline in this field, none of whom had anything to do with the billing practices these rules were written to fix.
NSAP exists to change that “autism care equals ABA” equation.
We agree more than we sometimes realize
Autism professionals disagree frequently about how to improve services. We agree far more often about why.
Across disciplines, I've met people who care deeply about expanding access to care, strengthening the workforce, using strong evidence to guide decisions and helping autistic individuals and their families live meaningful, fulfilling lives. Those shared goals are far more powerful than many of the disagreements that often dominate our conversations.
That’s where NSAP can make the difference.
Our purpose isn't to shut down debate. Progress needs disagreement and honest debate. Our purpose is to give autism professionals a place to build from common ground, learn from each other and take on problems no single discipline can solve alone.
We're in the early chapters of NSAP's story. My thinking will continue to evolve as I meet more people and hear more perspectives.
The autism field has never lacked expertise, passion or innovation. What it's lacked is a place for those things to come together. That’s what we’re building.
If you’ve already joined, this is the work you signed up for: a hand in shaping the standards and priorities this field will run on for the next decade – while they’re still being written, not after someone else has already decided for you. If you’re still sitting on the fence about joining, watching to see what NSAP becomes, understand that this isn’t a spectator sport. The standards being written right now won’t wait for you to make up your mind.
Wherever you stand on the issues shaping autism services and support, I want your voice in this work.