London ‘autism healer’ secretly filmed abusing client

Joseph Kanta was filmed asking an undercover reporter he believed to be a patient whether he wanted a ‘slap or punch’

Over 50,000 people have signed a petition calling on the government to take action against unproven 'treatments' for autism (iStock)

A man claiming to be able to cure autism has been secretly filmed shouting and threatening to punch or slap an undercover reporter who posed as a patient.

Joseph Kanta offered “autism mind training” and told the reporter he could “cure” autism with his training system.

In the footage obtained by the journalist who posed as a vulnerable patient, Mr Kanta can be seen raising his fist at the client and asking whether he wanted a “slap or punch”.

He is also seen standing over his client and loudly shouting his name.

The BBC reporter filmed the interaction as part of an investigation into a Hungarian firm that was selling a “cure” for autism in London.

Mr Kanta told the undercover reporter his autism could be cured through a series of training sessions which cost £3,500.

According to the BBC, Mr Kanta said he would do this by locating the patient’s “inner trauma” which could take as many as 60 sessions.

The undercover reporter, who gave his name as Jordan said during the sessions he was ordered to make prolonged eye-contact with Mr Kanta, which is something many people with autism find difficult to do.

He also repeatedly told him his mother did not love him.

Jordan said: “His hands were getting closer to my face, his body was getting closer to me, his face was getting closer to my face.”

Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder for which there is no known cure, and can affect people in a variety of ways.

Richard Mills, research director at the Research Autism charity viewed the footage and said: “It has no place under the heading of therapy of any kind.”

“To be confronted by someone who is so threatening is horrifying, it's terrifying.

“And to someone prone to stress and anxiety, the effects are likely to be catastrophic,” he said.

When asked to explain the footage by the BBC, Mr Kanta said he had been playing “a joke”, but that his techniques were based on science and had yielded “plenty of results” in the past.

The training system Mr Kanta was using is said to be based on techniques invented by Zoltan Toth, who runs a company named Stabil Point Technologia in Hungary.

Mr Toth told the undercover team: “I can kill autism, the first that did.”

Mr Toth put the BBC’s research team in contact with Mr Kanta, who he said was the company’s trainer in London.

A petition calling on the government to legislate against unproven treatments for autism has gathered over 50,000 signatures.

BBC Inside Out is broadcast on BBC One in the London area on Monday 26 September at 19:30.