Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Autism National Committee


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. Liz Read! Talk! 04:49, 11 October 2022 (UTC)

Autism National Committee

 * – ( View AfD View log | edits since nomination)

No significant coverage in independent RS found after a before search (t &#183; c)  buidhe  02:10, 28 September 2022 (UTC) Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, RL0919 (talk) 02:56, 5 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Disability and Organizations. Shellwood (talk) 07:30, 28 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Merge to Facilitated communication (or just delete). Weak delete. The Autism National Committee (AUTCOM) is noted within the autism literature as an advocate of facilitated communication (FC), which is a controversial technique (also referred to as "pseudo-scientific" or "unproven") where a facilitator helps a profoundly disabled person communicate through a keyboard using an ideomotor or "oujia board" effect. The Slate and CNN "Paging Dr. Gupta" blog articles cited within the article already include passing mentions to AUTCOM in this context, but AUTCOM and its support of FC is mentioned in a bit more depth (neutrally worded description of organization, plus a few sentences including a quote from AUTCOM statement) in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Reference Handbook (ABC-CLIO, 2010). The current page for Facilitated communication does not include any mention of AUTCOM anywhere at the moment, so even if it's just inclusion in a bulletpoint list, it is probably worth performing some form of "merge" before deleting this article. Beyond FC, AUTCOM is known for two other things: 1) How Safe Is the Schoolhouse? An Analysis of State Seclusion and Restraint Laws and Policies, a regularly updated report which it publishes, documenting state-level protections against restraint and seclusion of children in schools across all 50 states, which is cited periodically in newspapers (particularly when incidents occur involving children with autism or other disabilities, or when legislation is being discussed); and 2) its opposition to discrete trial training (DTT) and "shock therapy" for autistic children (see this mention/quote in a syndicated 1999 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer). (I guess that AUTCOM could be mentioned on the DTT page as well.) It is a lot of brief mentions and mentions in passing, nothing in depth about the organization itself, so regardless of whether it gets merged or deleted, I don't think it's a keep. Cielquiparle (talk) 04:44, 29 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your in-depth search! (t &#183; c)  buidhe  05:00, 29 September 2022 (UTC)
 * I've changed my !vote to "weak delete" above, as I've now performed the two content merges I suggested (adding info about AutCom to Facilitated communication and Discrete trial training). It's a weak delete because if there were at least one more secondary source that discussed the organization in depth, someone might be able to write an article (and in my book, WP:NONPROFIT is not quite as rigorous as WP:NCORP, and this is a national organization). (But I've looked again via ProQuest, etc., and not found anything appropriate beyond mentions of their general policy stances, as I explained previously.) Cielquiparle (talk) 17:32, 4 October 2022 (UTC)
 *  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.


 * Delete The excellent content merges by Cielquiparle make this an easy call. This organization, as opposed to its advocated topics, has no significant coverage in reliable sources. JoJo Anthrax (talk) 13:32, 5 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Delete any relevant information can be covered in Facilitated communication. Hemiauchenia (talk) 00:28, 6 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Delete per findings by Cielquiparle. Haueirlan (talk) 19:28, 7 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Delete: As per other deletion comments. Emir of Wikipedia (talk) 12:12, 9 October 2022 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.