I'm an activist for the rights of nonspeaking autistic people. It's #AACAwarenessMonth and I have something rather to tell you.

First of all, the principle:

Communication is a basic human right. It's mentioned in the #CRPD.

@Communica1st is a disability rights organisation that focuses on the right to communication for people who cannot rely on speech.

Next, what's #AAC?

AAC is Augmentative & Alternative Communication — i.e. pointing to a letterboard, eye-tracker communication, using apps with picture symbols, that sort of thing — used by people who can't rely on speech.

Today a Speech & Language Therapist told me the two main reasons why people stop AAC therapy with her for their nonspeaking autistic children.

1. Oralism: They value speech over all other forms of communication, and they don't like to give their children what works best for them.

(Parents' oralism is also a big problem in the Deaf community, and leads to much heartache and broken family relationships.)

2. They don't like what the children say, so they stop therapy so that the children will not be able to communicate.

NEVER EVER AGAIN tell me that all parents love their children.

#AACAwarenessMonth

Share the silent words of those who shout in #AAC out of desperate empathy with those kept in silence through pure ignorance, through poverty, or through the deliberate denial of their rights by the people who should care the most. https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1312542821384060928

Thank you to @JabulisaKhumalo for allowing your son to be empowered through #AAC so that he can speak in this way to the many who care to listen.