If we say we need a piece of technology, enable that. If a meeting knows I need to use a chat facility for video, enable support for that so that I join in equally.
Category: AAC
A small switch in behavior other people can make, to ease the author’s life as an autistic person, is to “Tell me what to expect in advance! Especially for unfamiliar events… and in more detail than you expect I’ll need.”
Those who would deny people access to their most effective method of communication because of concerns about the potential for false accusations should, as Rua Williams recently wrote, “ask [themselves] why a false accusation is more harmful than the ability to accuse.”
If you don’t want people exposing your private moments online, then don’t do it to [autistic people]. Don’t have a double standard. Treat them in the way that you would want to be treated. Think of it that way.
Jordyn Zimmerman’s story, as told in the new documentary This Is Not About Me, is an example of how non-speaking autistic people can blossom when communication becomes possible.
I am saying when you plan in advance HOW someone else will communicate, you PLAN what they will communicate—and then it CEASES to be communication.
Think of your goal less about “doing it right” and more about “getting comfortable with AAC.” I’ve seen fear of being wrong all too often lead to no modeling. And I promise some modeling, modeling with mistakes, modeling slowly, all of it is better than no modeling.