altverbal experiences

a blog for altverbal people to share their experiences, made due to the lack of existing, active blogs that serve that purpose.

[our-altverbal-experience]

welcome to our-altverbal-experience, a blog dedicated to giving altverbal people an outlet. this space was made by me, a semiverbal adult who was frustrated by the sheer lack of active blogs that serve that purpose.

I aim to be inclusive of all altverbal people, whether they be nonverbal, semiverbal, verbalflux, or even hyperverbal, regardless of what causes their altverbality! it's my understanding that altverbal spaces tend to focus heavily on autistic perspectives, when things like schizophrenia, physical disabilities, etc. can also result in having an atypical relationship with mouth words, understanding speech, etc. and I want this one to be different. those who are selectively mute and situationally mute are also welcome to send in asks!

the only real rule is to be respectful: do not refer to speech loss episodes as going nonverbal, as that is disrespectful to nonverbal people (being nonverbal is a permanent state!), and plural experiences also shouldn't be policed, especially by singlets.

this blog is pro self-diagnosis and pro-endo. keep that in mind when interacting. there is no DNI. I hope you enjoy your stay!

[our-altverbal-experience]

Yo! I just wanna say I appreciate this blog, especially how you mentioned speech issues can be related to things other than autism in your pinned!! I’ve been having progressively worsening difficulty speaking due to my psychosis, and I want to find resources and hear other’s experiences. I guess it’s just the nature of the internet that all the tags related to altverbality is flooded with people discoursing over who’s “more disabled” or “disabled the right way”.

It’s been disheartening because my speech loss is obviously different from a lot of autistic people’s verbal shutdowns. It seems a lot of people posting in altverbal tags don’t recognize my type of speech loss as real or severe enough.

I will probably be back to say more when I think of stuff! Anyway, thank you for this blog!!!

aaaa no problem! I also noticed that people who have speech differences for other reasons aren't really acknowledged, and when I went to create this blog I didn't want to make the same mistake. I want to help bring more awareness to experiences like yours to help combat the erasure of said experiences.

additionally, I'm also not a fan of the discourse. I've blocked people over it. it just feels like certain experiences are watered down in a way that makes it seem like at some point there are no struggles involved whatsoever, when that's blatantly untrue... if I'm feeling the effects of this as an autistic semiverbal person, I can only imagine what it's like for people with other conditions that have impacted speech. it's saddening to see how unsafe communities like this can be... hopefully my blog can prove to be a safe space for more people.

[our-altverbal-experience]

I don't like how people treat verbal shutdowns as a choice... it very much isn't. it's incredibly stressful to be badgered to speak while in a verbal shutdown, just for people to reduce my loss of speech to simply not wanting to speak. that's just not true. I often DO want to speak, but I can't. this stress can actually prolong the verbal loss episode.

[chrome-barkz-aac]

at my wits end googling “why has my autistic child stopped talking” and rifling through ableist bullshit to get maybe one small piece of information about my speech loss that i can’t find anywhere else (spoiler alert, i am finding nothing)

if ne 1 has resources for adults on the autism spectrum completely losing speech, i would really appreciate if you could send them to me :) /not forced. my speech loss has been going on for 2.5 weeks and this has never happened in my entire life.

[bunns-being]

Maybe look into autistic regression in general? There might be more stuff about that. I’ll look

[bunns-being]

Understanding Autistic Regression In Adults

Autistic Regression & Burnout: Descriptions of Life on the Spectrum

Reddit Post asking if adults can regress

Autistic Burnout & Regression

Autistic Fatigue - a guide for professionals

Scientists track adult regression in autism related syndrome

Catatonia: A Common Cause of Late Regression in Autism

I haven’t got the energy to read these but I hope they have some decent information?

[our-altverbal-experience]

My Verbalflux experience is having a verbal shutdown for who knows how long and being unable to use an AAC app I have without feeling like I'm appropriating resources from nonverbal people. (I have verbal shutdowns bc of Overstimulation or ME/CFS flare ups)

it's a generally held belief among AAC users that AAC is for anyone, which means it absolutely isn't appropriation for those who are verbalflux to use it!

[yeoldecryptid]

Okay, I just learned we got the worlds first nonverbal voice actor, and as a semi verbal person who has wanted to see more AAC users in media FRIGGIN FINALLY. Seriously, I’m just happy people understand that the statement ‘nonverbal voice actor’ is not an oxymoron.

Edit: People kept bringing up Madison Bandy, who played Renee in the Pixar short film ‘Loops.’ She is indeed earlier. Some news articles were misrepresenting Odin Frost. However, he is the first nonverbal voice actor in a kids show, and Paulo, the character he portrays, is the first full time AAC user in a kids show, as far as I’m aware.