Skip to main content

Communication and Assistive Technology for Autistic and Other Disabled People

 Communication is more than speaking and Autistic people are a great example of a community who uses a wide variety of communication techniques and technologies to help assist us. Some Autistic people are speaking, some are nonspeaking, some partially nonspeaking, many have apraxia of speech, some connect to language in a synesthetic way, some are object visualizers, and some spatial visualizers.

For nonspeaking and partially speaking (and even speaking Autistics who want an alternative) can turn to assistive technologies or other forms of communication, such as facilitated communication, RPM (rapid prompting method), letterboards, AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices or apps, writing, typing, ASL (American Sign Language), and a multitude of other ways to communicate, including, but not limited to music, sound, and motoric movements that convey a message to the Autistic or otherwise Disabled person. These methods are used for other Disabilities sometimes as well, such as the Deaf and Cerebral Palsy communities.

I, myself, would consider myself to be partially nonspeaking as I seem to have apraxia of speech and it is often difficult to get words from my brain to my mouth, so I will often sound irritable, say something I don't mean to, fumble over my words, or people don't understand me, so when I am at home, I sometimes use a text-to-speech AAC app. It is much easier to get my thoughts out into text because I have to think about what I want to say first, so I do not speak through my AAC as impulsively as I would with my speaking voice. In addition to all of this, my speaking voice can often connect to language in a synesthetic way, which can be a strength when waxing poetic or explaining a metaphorical concept (yes, some Autistics do understand metaphors), but it creates a style of communication that is not easily accessible to listeners, but it does help for writing poetry very rapidly.

My point is that Autistics and Disabled people in general communicate in a very wide variety of ways, and this entry did not cover the full breadth of the humanities even, but there is more than one way to communicate and you should not have to limit yourself to just one kind of communication if you don't want to or if you don't feel that you have the ability to do so. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

 My name is Lily Maureen O'Nan, and I am currently going to university for my associate of science degree in social science, and then will be moving onto a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology with a minor in gender studies. I am non-binary transfeminine and autistic and ADHD, and will be using this platform to publish essays as I go through academia until I have a better grasp on coding.  I will be discussing a wide array of topics from disability studies to traditional psychology to psychedelic therapy to Marxism and more. I will also be discussing gender and "neuroqueer" experience, and possibly publishing poetry and art-themed pieces as well. Be on the lookout for updates. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Mirror-touch Synesthesia & the "Empath"

 I personally do not like or adhere to the term "empath," but I believe I have figured out the explanation for this phenomenon, which I do experience. It's specifically called mirror-touch synesthesia, and is also related to mirror-pain synesthesia and mirror-emotion synesthesia, which I spoke of at an earlier time. Studies show that mirror-touch synesthetes experience heightened levels of empathy because, in addition to feeling at least an echo of another person's pain, many of us also feel their emotions as if they were our own. This sounds an awful lot like the horrific pop psychology term, "empath," but most people attribute it to a supernatural phenomenon if they're not lying about it, rather than a Neurodivergence. It's a lesser known type of synesthesia, but I experience mirror-touch, as well as more "traditional" types of synesthesia where many of my senses blend together. I was actually misdiagnosed with schizoaffective because I d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ketamine Therapy

 There are many forms of trauma-based therapy, but throughout the years, I have learned the type of neurobiological transformation that I want comes in form of ketamine therapy. I take ketamine troches (lozenges) at home because I have a lot of medical trauma. They are legally prescribed to me. The topic of ketamine therapy can be murky for the Autistic, as we respond to anesthesia differently than neurotypicals in many cases. Some ketamine doctors are also not sure what to do when presented with Autistic individuals. In many instances, if you're Autistic, you are also more likely to have gastroparesis, which might be my case. Gastroparesis can change the way that you metabolize certain substances, and in my case, it tends to elongate the experience of ketamine for me, considering I am taking it sublingually and orally. It goes through secondary and (in my opinion) tertiary pass metabolism. This leaves me with a day to re-connect my thoughts and helps encourage neuroplasticity. I d...
Post a Comment
Read more