Advocacy Issues
Communication: The Bureaucrat's Guide: Rosemary Crossley
They may be misinterpreted; so we will prevent them ever expressing an opinion. They may be misled; so we will prevent them ever asking questions. read more...
Beyond the Debate: Supporting the Use of Facilitated Communication in Supported Employment: Nancy Kalina
This paper summarizes my experience as an employment consultant as I supported people who used and continue to use facilitated communication to become more active in their job search, employment and daily lives. It is important to note that supporting individuals who cannot speak, but who used facilitated communication forced me to look at four innovations of the last decade with a different set of eyes. These areas are supported employment, natural supports, facilitated communication, and person-centered planning. read more...
Moving Out: Two Self-Advocates Choose Their Life-Styles: Robin Smith
I THINK YOU ARE THINKING THAT IT IS EASY TO LIVE IN MY HOUSE. IT TAKES A LOT OF GUTS TO HAVE MY GREAT FRIENDS EVERY DAY... (Ben Lehr, from audio tape). As a parent...it is very hard not to be protective...it's painful to have those risks sometimes end up being horrendous...we learned because of some of the horrible things that have happened in Ben's life from other people. By protecting him, by keeping him close to us we were not protecting him; we were increasing the risk because nobody else would know him. read more...
Talking Politics: Empowering Communication Aid Users: Rosemary Crossley
Recently I had a phone call which reminded me how important communication is, and how vulnerable it is for people who cannot use their own voices. The caller was 'Laura', mother of 'Fred', an adult with multiple disabilities who had used a Canon Communicator at his day centre and at home for many years. Because of his disabilities it is essential that someone holds the communicator and supports Fred's arm while he types. Last year, Fred moved to another day centre, which apparently doesn't believe in using any communication aids, and his attendant carers changed. This left his elderly mother as his only communication partner, and she only got out Fred's Canon when she wanted to know something, not when he had something to say. read more...
Why Parents and Children with Disabilities Should have the Right to Use Facilitated Communication: Doug Biklen
In the mid 1970's, Australian educator Rosemary Crossley rediscovered a method of communication that American teacher and parent Rosalind Oppenheimer had used as early as the late 1950s and had written about in her 1974 book Teaching Methods for Autistic Children. The technique, which Crossley named facilitated communication (FC), involved providing physical and emotional support to a person with a developmental disability (such as autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome) and limited or no speech. read more...
No Time for Silence: Doug Biklen
The issue of facilitated communication has often been cast as a scientific issue: i.e. is it real or not? It is also a political issue: i.e., what kind of research should we do and to what end; should we support facilitated communication users and, if so, how; and what responsibility do schools and agencies have for allowing and supporting facilitation? This article suggests that TASH members cannot support a self-determination agenda by remaining silent on the facilitated communication controversy. As with every other issue we address, a commitment to science, self-determination and inclusion can and must go hand-in-hand. read more...