Struggles for a Voice
The Lost Gift, A Poem By John Smyth
The Lost Gift By John Smyth Wanting personal communication was lost in isolation and will wait with suffering. Each sadly wailing parent only appreciates in silos of grief longing for the child in another silo longing for them, separated waste assumes as human thinking shapes all silos. Your child waits in the same wanting waiting…
Read MoreH-O-P-E! It is PRICELESS!! – An Autistic Typer’s Parent’s Story
“my mom tells me she knows i am smart” These are the first words my non-verbal almost 13 year old son diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) typed with his Music Therapist, who happens to be getting trained in “Supported Typing [Facilitated Communication]“! That was on October 25, 2013 and our life has completely changed…
Read MoreHope Technology School – A Fully Inclusive Education for All Students
The private non-profit Hope Technology School (HTS) offers a WASC accredited K-8 school program, a licensed Preschool Program, as well as an NPA certified Therapy Department and Vocational Education Program. Located in Palo Alto, CA, HTS has been serving Bay Area families since 2001, with a mission to provide a fully inclusive education for both…
Read MoreFor Non-verbal Autistics and Others with Disabilities, Frederick Douglass’ Fight for Equality Continues Today
Frederick Douglass, the former slave who became one of the leaders of the abolitionist movement, was a well-known social reformer, orator, writer, and statesman. He was most known for his powerful, incisive antislavery speeches and writing. He stood as a living counter-example to slaveholders’ arguments that slaves did not have the intellectual capacity to function…
Read MoreEveryone Communicates – the Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Resource
The website Everyone Communicates is dedicated to people who are still waiting for a means to communicate more effectively. The intention and hope of the site is to help bring access to communication to more people so that someday soon everyone will have the opportunity to communicate effectively, and no one will have to spend…
Read MoreThe Autism National Committee – Dedicated to Social Justice for All Citizens with Autism
AutCom, the Autism National Committee, is the only autism advocacy organization dedicated to “Social Justice for All Citizens with Autism” through a shared vision and a commitment to positive approaches. AutCom was founded in 1990 to protect and advance the human rights and civil rights of all persons with autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and related…
Read MoreHelen Keller and Anne Sullivan Demonstrate Self-taught Form of Facilitated Communication
Helen Keller, the blind and deaf American author, political activist and lecturer, is seen in this 1930 newsreel clip as her instructor and lifelong companion, Anne Sullivan, demonstrated how Keller learned to talk. While often described as blind, deaf and mute, the final line of this rare footage proves otherwise. At the end of the…
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