QABA® International Standards Committee Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Spotlight:

Eziafakaku Nwokolo, QBA (Nigeria, Africa)

On behalf of the International Standards Committee (ISC) of the Qualified Applied Behavior Analysis Credentialing Board® (QABA®), we are launching a series of interviews with a diversified set of Qualified Behavior Analysts® (QBA®), who all happen to be ISC members. With these interviews, we hope to illustrate respective applications of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) within the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) across eighteen countries (i.e., Brazil, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, India, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, United States), and five continents (i.e., Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America).

With active participation and commitment to the ISC of the QABA®, behavior analysts from different parts of the world have afforded the unique opportunity to collaborate with like-minded individuals who share the same values and undergo similar lived experiences and professional trajectories. These members value compassionate, ethical, evidence-based autism treatment while putting globalization at the forefront of their practice. Meet Eziafakaku Nwokolo, an active ISC member, Qualified Behavior Analyst®, Ph.D. researcher, and proud autism mom from Nigeria, Africa, who has contributed her time and expertise to the Committee since February 2020.

Eziafakaku Nwokolo

Eziafakaku’s distinctive relationship with ABA, assuming both caregiver and practitioner roles, has given the Committee a multidimensional perspective into behavior analytic practice in Nigeria. In addition to running her own ABA clinic, Shades of Life Ltd., she has done extensive research on the validation of screening tools for intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with Nigerian adolescents, ensuring cultural sensitivity.

In this first installment of the QABA® ISC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Spotlight, we look into Eziafakaku’s experience as a QBA® positioned within the context of diversity and the concept of intersectionality. We too get a bird’s eye view of how she manages to strike a balance between cultural responsiveness and ethical duty to the Code (2021) in order to foster equity and inclusion in autism service delivery in her home country of Nigeria.

Beatriz Querol-Cintron (BQC): Describe yourself as a behavior analyst. How do you operationally define “diversity” within the context of your lived experiences (i.e., setting events, motivating operations, reinforcement, punishment)?
Which of your values have been upheld as a result of your membership in QABA’s International Standards Committee?

Eziafakaku Nwokolo (EN): As a Nigerian, diversity for me is looking beyond the individual’s tribe, ignoring those stereotypic comments and behaviours ascribed to the individual’s tribe and working together to achieve a common goal that’s relevant to both the client and organisation in all environments.

BQC: How does “intersectionality” (“a lens, a prism, for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality [i.e., race, ethnicity, age, national origin, sexual orientation, cultural identity, assigned sex, gender identity, physical ability, mental ability] often operate together and exacerbate each other ” [Steinmetz, 2020]) affect your practice as a behavior analyst?

EN: I simply do not wear such lenses. They are too expensive.

BQC: Assuming you have witnessed or encountered explicit or implicit bias in your personal and professional lives, what have your visceral reactions been to such?
What tried-and-tested strategies, behavior analytic or otherwise, have you implemented to counter such biases? (Feel free to share experiences if and when comfortable).

EN: Funny enough such biases come from my fellow Nigerians; when they prefer to have expatriate services over our organisation’s or mine. I simply do not reinforce such behaviours but rather I place them on immediate extinction.

BQC: How do you intend to align your personal and professional goals with the QABA Ethical Code of Conduct (QABA®, 2021)?
What are someneurodiversity-affirming and culturally, linguistically, and ecologically responsive behavior analytic recommendations to ensure fidelity to the Code (QABA®, 2021)?

EN: When communicating with clients, we discuss the code and its implication/relevance in our clime. The truth is that every human organism understands the ramifications of noncompliance to the code once explained. The Code of Conduct is no different from my personal values rather it enhances it. My team’s behaviour is guided by it. Our client’s behaviour is guided by it.

There are very few areas that we implement based on our culture. One of such areas is dual relationships. Culturally, anyone you’ve welcomed into your home or those taking care of one’s child is expected to eat from the same pot; otherwise, the client’s representative(s) may lose their trust in the interventionist.

References:
Qualified Applied Behavior Analysis Credentialing Board®. (2021). QABA® ethical code of conduct.
https://qababoard.com/wp-content/uploads/Code-of-Ethics-03-25-21.pdf

Steinmetz, K. (2020, February 20). She coined the term ‘intersectionality’ over 30
years ago. Here’s what it means to her today. Time.
https://time.com/5786710/kimberle-crenshaw-intersectionality/

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