I’m gonna say this, and I’m taking a deep breath as I say this because it’s probably going to piss off some people lol.
Unless you’re nonspeaking/nonverbal, then you don’t get it. Yes, even if you’re a part time AAC user. Yes, even if you’re an occasional AAC user. Yes, even if you use AAC the majority of the time but are verbal or demiverbal or semiverbal.
You don’t get it. You don’t get what it’s like to rely completely on a device. On other people. You don’t get the fear, the anxiety, the loneliness, the pain. You don’t get the ableism we face. Or the fact that we can’t experience certain connections.
You don’t get that I can’t say thank you and therefore get weird looks. You don’t get that I can’t say please, or sorry, or anything like that. You won’t get what it’s like to have to make your parent your medical proxy because you can’t make doctors appointments yourself, so therefore they know everything about your medical history. You have no privacy. You don’t get what it’s like.
You don’t get the fear of seeing your devices battery slowly die because you’ve been using it but you still have hours left of class or you are out in public and know you need something to communicate but your device will inevitably die on you.
You don’t get what it’s like to go into the AAC community and see part time users be risen up and supported, then for full time users to be ignored and and told our experiences are so different that they shouldn’t even be talked about in these spaces because it leaves people out.
You don’t get what it’s like to be beyond frustrated with other AAC users because although they’re apart of our community, they’re forcing themselves into our conversations as full time nonverbal/nonspeaking users. You don’t get that frustration. The want to scream.
You don’t get what it’s like to see people push themselves into your community for only their self gain. For their own selfishness. For the sake of saying “I’m an AAC user too!!!! I can say these things!!” When no…I’m not talking about you. I’m not talking about part time AAC users.
I feel like people don’t realize that yes, AAC users are a minority themselves, and a marginalized community, but full time users, they’re a marginalized community and a minority within the very community that they fucking built.
Part time AAC users, occasional AAC users, people who are not nonspeaking/nonverbal, it’s time to start realizing your own privilege within the community. It’s time to start letting us talk too. It’s time to stop forcing your way into our conversations. It’s time to listen to us.
I get increasingly frustrated as the days go on, and I’m tired of being frustrated.