Black Caregivers’ Perspectives on Racism in ASD Services: Toward Culturally Responsive ABA Practice

Čolić et al. (2022) gathered stories from Black caregivers of children with autism. They wanted to map every place these families felt racism while getting diagnoses or ABA services.

The team read earlier studies, policy papers, and first-hand accounts. They then wrote a narrative review that links each racist event to a spot in the service pipeline.

Caregivers met racism at three levels: big rules, clinic rules, and one-on-one moments. Big rules mean long wait lists and far-away clinics. Clinic rules mean only English forms. One-on-one moments mean staff who doubt their parenting.

The review shows these layers pile up. Each new slap makes it harder for caregivers to stay in ABA and harder for kids to keep services.

Onovbiona et al. (2024) extends this story. They asked Black caregivers to rate stress and service quality. Families still liked their therapists, yet stress stayed sky-high. The numbers back up the stories Čolić collected.

Williams et al. (2019) looked at stress and coping years earlier. They found Black caregivers already felt more stress than White peers and used more church and family supports. Čolić reframes that stress as a reaction to racism, not just a personal trait.

Kemmerer et al. (2023) scanned every caregiver-training study. Most never said if families were Black, White, or Brown. Čolić’s review fills that blank space by naming what Black families need before training even starts.

You can run the best ABA program, yet racism outside your door can still make families quit. Use Čolić’s map to check your own process: Are forms only in English? Is the wait list extra long for Medicaid kids? Do staff question moms more than dads? Fix one system hurdle this month and ask caregivers if it feels better. Small fixes add up to longer stay-in-care and better child outcomes.