THE FIRST UNIONIZED ABA WORKPLACE IN THE U.S. IS ON STRIKE
33 Registered Behavior Technicians at Verbal Beginnings in Maryland have been on strike since July 20, 2026. Over seven weeks. The first unionized ABA workplace in the United States, and they are striking over a stalled contract, no raises in more than three years, and a pay cap of $20–24/hour. $4 billion a year. That is the size of the ABA industry (Bloomberg, May 2026). The people doing the work – the RBTs providing direct therapy to autistic children and adults – are capped at $24/hour, with no raises in three years, and a contract their employer will not finalize. What this tells you about the model ABA is a $4 billion industry built on behavior modification. The training programs that certify Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) teach the diagnostic criteria for autism but not how autistic people think, not what masking costs us, not what the research says about long-term outcomes, not what autistic adults report about the therapy they received as children (Bloomberg investi...