Rylan’s AAC

they/them, verbal flux, part-time AAC user, system

[ry-aac]

Intro Post

Hello! We are Rylan(they/them) collectively. We are 33 years old, ace spec, queer & nonbinary. We’re autistic, ADHD, traumagenic system with BPD, MDD, GAD. We’re also physically disabled with no diagnosis as of yet. We are verbalflux and part-time AAC user. The way we type changes a lot depending on who’s fronting and amount of communication we can do.

We will be using this blog for AAC stuff.

No DNI, we’ll block if need-be.

We are too old and tired to get into tumblr discourse, especially syscourse. Please do not try to get our opinions on such things.

We are also not super knowledgeable in tumblr etiquette. One of our middles started this blog. Please be patient with us while we figure stuff out :)

[chrome-barkz-aac]

Here is aac user flag! So very excited about flag very happy with it.

Color meaning : orange is for communication. Pink is for the love and respect aac users have for each other. White is for unity. Lighter blue is for high tech aac users. medium blue is for low tech aac users. Darker blue is for no tech aac users.

hope you all like if have suggestions please tell me.

Peace and love to you all

Image id: flag with 6 horizontal stripe from top to bottom it go orange, reddish pink, white, sky blue, darker blue, darkest blue.

[radiomogai]

[PT: Here is aac user flag! So very excited about flag very happy with it. end PT]

[bendyaac]

Pumpkin emojis: pumpkin, carved pumpkin, and jack o lantern

I will get to working on more halloween themed emojis soon. i’m just been busy with work so i haven’t much time to do the rest.

[postmanic]

hii! I'm sorry if this comes off as a really rude thing to ask, but I saw your comic about AAC and just wanted to ask a question about using it because the comic really captured me (if that makes sense). Is it okay to consider using some form of AAC even if you have full speaking abilities? I don't want to take anything away from the people who genuinely need it, and I technically can always fully speak. Sometimes I really don't want to ("want" isn't the right word, it's more like, something in me is really resistant to the idea of speaking and it takes way more effort to do it) but I can still push through it. I suspect I might be autistic as well but I don't want to be disrespectful or try to claim anything or be an attention seeker, I'm just not really in a situation where I could get diagnosed. The idea of using AAC just leapt out at me for some reason and I've been thinking about it a lot ever since I saw your comic. I just wanted to know if it would be disrespectful/wrong/etc for me to consider using it as a person who technically has full vocal capabilities? And I'm really sorry for all this rambling!!! I hope you're having a great day!! You seem really cool and I really like your art!!!

HI ANON not rude at all!! anybody of any speaking ability can use AAC including fully speaking people.

if you think it might be easier for you to communicate with other methods besides speaking, please try AAC! you might find it helps a lot! but even if it doesn't, you'll learn more about what it's like to use AAC and about AAC users, so it's still a win-win either way!

you aren't stealing any resources by using AAC - anybody who benefits from AAC deserves to be able to use AAC!

i hope this helps! :3

[ry-aac]

Day 18 : Why do you use AAC?

we use AAC because some of us are not able to speak, and a lot of the alters who can speak need to spend lots of energy to speak

[ry-aac]

Day 17 : How do you get comfortable using AAC?

I got comfortable using AAC by customizing it a lot so it works for our brain, and with lots of practice

[ry-aac]

Day 16 : (High Tech) Do you prefer text-to-speech or symbol-to-speech? Why?

I prefer symbol-based AAC. I often use AAC when finding words is hard, having the words in front of me helps me find my words.

[ry-aac]

Day 15 : Where do you get your symbols from (if applicable)?

Most of our AAC pagesets use PCS symbols, Proloquo2Go doesn't have PCS though, the pageset we are customizing in Proloquo2Go uses symbols from AACIL and Tumblr

[postmanic]

a comic about aac

Happy AAC Awareness Month!

[ry-aac]

Day 2 : Do you decorate your AAC? How so?

Yes! We have a pastel pink case for our iPad, and we have a couple galaxy calm strips on the back.

[ry-aac]

I saw someone post their lockscreen so I am posting ours too :D we used symbols from AACIL and put it together in Krita.

The first homepage is the big Proloquo2Go homepage. The pageset is still a work in progress so we haven’t used it yet.

The second homepage is from our big TD Snap pageset. We only just got it functional before beginning to switch to P2G. Some of us are using it as our main board for now as we set up P2G.

The last homepage is from the TD Snap pageset we’ve been using the longest, and most of us know it very well. It’s based off of Grid Supercore 50 but it’s a slightly larger grid size.

[b0x-the-aac]

AAC Awareness Month Challenge 2025 (#aacmonthchallege2025)

Thank you to our friends in the AAC Hangout discord server for their ideas* ♡

Feel free to answer as much or as little as you want

Day 1 : (High Tech) Share a picture of your home screen!

Day 2 : Do you decorate your AAC? How so?

Day 3 : Do you theme your AAC? How so?

Day 4 : What level of tech (high, mid, low, no) do you prefer?

Day 5 : (No Tech) Do you have a special gesture for yourself/your important people?

Day 6* : Use your AAC to share some lyrics from your favorite song!

Day 7 : (High Tech) What app do you use? Why?

Day 8 : (Low Tech) What type of low tech AAC do you use? Why?

Day 9 : Do you stim with your AAC?

Day 10 : What's your favorite button/card? Favorite image?

Day 11 : (No Tech) If you can do so, what's your favorite sound to make?

Day 12 : Use your AAC to share clues about your favorite movie! Can others guess what it is?

Day 13 : Who is someone you feel comfortable using AAC with? Why?

Day 14 : If you could use a new type of AAC for a day, what would you choose? Why?

Day 15 : Where do you get your symbols from (if applicable)?

Day 16 : (High Tech) Do you prefer text-to-speech or symbol-to-speech? Why?

Day 17 : How do you get comfortable using AAC?

Day 18 : Why do you use AAC?

Day 19 : What terms do you identify with? (Verbality, Part/Full Time User, Support Needs, ect)

Day 20 : When do you most often use AAC?

Day 21 : Do you find that AAC helps you?

Day 22 : How do you convey your emotions with AAC? (ie emotions board, cards, ect)

Day 23 : (High Tech) What does your home board look like?

Day 24 : Shout out a favorite AAC content creator! (ie symbol maker, AAC user, ect)

Day 25 : Are you in any AAC oriented spaces? (ie discord servers, IRL clubs, ect)

Day 26 : Do you know sign language? (NOTE! Sign language is not AAC, they are independent languages with their own history and culture)

Day 27 : Do you use any other assistive technology to use AAC? (ie eye gaze, head tracking, ect)

Day 28 : What does your AAC voice sound like? Why did you choose it?

Day 29 : Have you seen any good AAC representation? (ie books, movies, shows, ect)

Day 30 : What's something you want non-AAC users to know?

Day 31 : What's something you want new AAC users to know?

[ry-aac]

AAC awareness month! Let’s see if we can keep up with it!

[pawtism-luna]

Suggestion for newer, part time AAC users: bring your preferred AAC with you anywhere you go, even if you don't think you will need it. Even if you don't think you will have the confidence to use it. Just take the step of getting used to having it with you.

We've been working with our therapist about using AAC. They aren't a speech therapist, just our regular everyday therapist. Our therapist is glad we are taking the steps to make our world more accessible to us, but we also still struggle with feeling anxious for asking others to meet our needs.

The other week we brought Betty (our AAC tablet) with us to therapy. We didn't have any intentions of using her for therapy, or even felt confident in wanting to show our therapist how our AAC is currently set up yet. But our therapist noticed her with us and made a comment about it "I am glad you are getting used to carrying more of your aids with you. Even if you don't use it, getting used to carrying it on your person and being seen with it will help."

And we have to agree! We take Betty just about everywhere with us now! (We don't have work accomodations at this time) Even if we are just going for a walk by ourselves without intentions to stop anywhere, we still take Betty with us like we take our noise cancelling headphones and a stuffed animal. Grabbing her is part of our routine now. She's on my check off list of things I need before I leave. (We are also slightly POSIC towards Betty, so it's comforting to have her with us just like having a stuffed animal is.)

And we are finding we feel more confident using her in more environments now! We still get anxious and force ourselves to talk to strangers and mask at times, but it's for sure an improvement over what it felt like 2 months ago when we first got Betty.

So that's my suggestion! Bring your aids! Get used to having your aids with you, even if you aren't "using" them! It's hard being a disabled person asking for your needs to be met, especially when they have rarely been met before. But it's okay, because you can start making the baby steps to improve your confidence in your aids.

[ry-aac]

I’ve found this really helps me. I even used AAC at a class yesterday. It helped that we brought it with us the first class, and I introduced that I might use it sometimes when we were going around introducing ourselves.

[fractals-and-symbols]

Communication card pt.2

the rest of them :3

pt.1 here (has permissions and stuff)

all images by me except for the paws, which we found on the internet

[anautistic]

The AAC Awareness Month 2025 sale graphic by Lauren Enders Gonzales is here! To download it and get clickable links, check out the link to her google drive file on her FaceBook, or click here: https://bit.ly/AACAwarenessDeals2025.

[ry-aac]

I don’t have a lot of subfolders done but I’ve been working on getting P2G how I like it! I hope to be able to stop paying for TD Snap next month!

[pawtism-luna]

We made a zine about AAC. You download it for free from our kofi shop.

[pawtism-luna]

Yay tried out printing these at the library today and they turned out nice :3