[New post] An Open Letter to the North Dakota State Board of Psychologist Examiners
Dr Marschall posted: " If you have been following my career antics, you know that I have been applying for licensure in North Dakota. The folks at ADHD Online had ONE psychologist serving the state, and that psychologist retired. Rather than telling the people of North Dakota,"
If you have been following my career antics, you know that I have been applying for licensure in North Dakota. The folks at ADHD Online had ONE psychologist serving the state, and that psychologist retired. Rather than telling the people of North Dakota, "Sorry, no accessible ADHD testing for you," they offered to help me get licensed.
I am happy to say that I jumped through all the hoops, crossed all the Ts, dotted all the Is, and received approval to practice!
Photo by Matheus Bertelli on Pexels.com This is what comes up when you search "North Dakota" in free stock photos and it's...not wrong.
As I was completing the qualifications for licensure, though, I stumbled upon a state law that unsettled me. North Dakota requires psychologists and other professionals to register any client that they diagnose as autistic in a state registry, including completing an extensive, two-page document with detailed personal information about each client. The North Dakota Department of Health has information about this law on their website.
Reporting your clients is mandatory, and failure to report a client results in a $1,000 fine plus a report to the board, which could cost your license to practice. What if an autistic client does not want to be registered with the state? Too bad! According to the FAQ page on the website, it's legal because North Dakota says so.
When I first came across this law in my test prep materials for the state licensing exam, I thought they were testing me. I thought, "This cannot be legal. They want to see what I do when I find a law that directly conflicts with my ethics code." It wasn't a test. But here is what I do when confronted with an unethical law.
I will not be conducting autism evaluations in North Dakota while this law is in effect because I cannot do so in a way that is simultaneously legal and in accordance with my professional ethics code and personal moral values.
This does not affect my work with ADHD Online because, for some reason, the North Dakota government only feels that autistic people need to be put on a list.
However, I have written a letter to the North Dakota State Board of Psychologist Examiners and copied the Department of Health and Governor Doug Burgum detailing how this law violates the APA ethics code as well as international laws regarding human subjects in research. My letter to the board is attached to an email noting that I am happy to do whatever I can to help support the board in lobbying to change this law.
What can YOU do? You can report this unethical law to the Department of Justice. The Autism Support Society shared detailed instructions via this Twitter thread about how to do this, and if the DOJ gets enough complaints, they can pressure North Dakota to repeal the law.
If you live in North Dakota, especially if you fall under this mandatory reporting law, please join me in writing to your licensing board, the Department of Health, and the state government demanding that they repeal this law.
BE THE CHANGE, friends. For more information about how to support autistic folks, please check out the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network.
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