#kerima cevik

[nonspeakerlibrary]

AutisticWhileBlack: Race, AAC, and The Right to The Voice of One's Peers

  In 2017, O, the Oprah Magazine, commissioned a famous white photographer, Chris Buck, to deliver a series of shocking photos on the realit

Kerima Çevik, a Black mother to a Black nonspeaking autistic teen , writes about how important it is that the AAC voices available reflect her son.

Asking me why I want anything specifically African American for my Black autistic son is a highly painful personal question. The answer lies in the reality thrown into stark relief in the photos displayed in that magazine. We are taught through every channel of mass communication that our societal worth is less than whites. This system attempts to subliminally teach us that we are not humans who matter. It is meant to remind us that the world is not made for us.

Asking me why would I want an Assistive Augmentative Communication (AAC) device made to serve my son to have the voice of my Black brother is like asking why I would want my son to have a Black prosthetic arm instead of a white one. The idea of having this option is long overdue. If my son could use verbal speech, his voice would not sound like any of the voices on his current AAC devices. It is a question that shouldn't have to be asked. It matters more than anything that a person has the equivalent of a speech device made for the entirety of who that individual is. And right now, in 2020, that option does not exist for my son and his AAC using Black autistic peers.

[autisticadvocacy]

It is so important for Black disabled women to have a village – a group of individuals who understand her fully. A group of uplifters, motivators, and truth sayers who will give you gems of knowledge and love when times go dark. These women will understand your frustrations in ways that many do not and …

"Future generations need Black disabled role models" Kerima Cevik  #BlackDisabledGirlMagic

[divergentfem]

It is so important for Black disabled women to have a village – a group of individuals who understand her fully. A group of uplifters, motivators, and truth sayers who will give you gems of knowledge and love when times go dark. These women will understand your frustrations in ways that many do not and …

[vladdraculea]

Kerima Çevik's awesome response to Suzanne Wright's odious speech at the Vatican.

Here is an excerpt. But if you can, do read the whole post, and please signal boost:

Disability is the world's largest, and most maligned minority. Like so many pioneering parents and grandparents in the Down community, you could have lifted your grandson up. You could have led the way to life changing policies by standing by him and by trying to reach out to prominent autistic professionals in a real way, with respect. You could have joined with the entire autism community and sought points of policy on which everyone agreed. When Autism Speaks decided to try and dictate federal autism policy without regard to autistic advocates,  parents, other autism organizations, in fact anyone but yourselves, I assumed the backlash would make it clear that your personal opinions shouldn't drive an entire nonprofit no matter how much wealth and power you have because your mandating your distaste for what my son and his peers are is unacceptable to me and literally hundreds of other people. Instead, you are now involving the Catholic church and using your massive privilege to inflict the agenda you couldn't mandate in Washington on the world? Wow. 

By the way lighting public spaces blue neither informs nor aids my son or his peers at all. No amount of offensive puzzle pieces sold in too many different ways and shoved in my family's faces because our son is autistic helps either.  Stop. Just STOP doing this.  Autism organizations should be dedicated to greatly improving the  lives of Autistic people and by doing so, improving the lives of their families. They should not be dedicated to insulting them and demanding the obliteration of any variance in the genetic code that produces differences. That you see, is a slippery slope because everyone has an opinion on what should not exist. I know. I am a Black woman. And there are quite a few people out there who think I should be remade to conform to white people more. I don't need blonde hair. I need to be accepted for who I am and where discrimination exists, I need it recognized and dealt with. That is justice. That is the standard that should be set for disabled people as well.

[justiceforstephonwatts-blog]

Letter of Support

Hi,

My name is Kerima Cevik. I am an African American Mother of a 9 year old Autistic son who is nonspeaking. I want to extend my family's deepest sympathies on your loss. I am also a legislative advocate in Maryland currently part of the Autism Education Project: http://www.autismeducationproject.org/directory-of-advocates-and-organizations.html .

 I think there is someone you should contact and strategize with. She's a friend of mine. Maybe you've heard of her. Her name is Lisa Guthrie Alexander and her son, Reginald 'Neli' Latson, was the young Autistic brother  who was wrongfully accosted and arrested for standing in front of the library. He was just released from prison. I am trying to find every case where a person of color who has Autism has fallen afoul of the criminal justice system and get all the families together. Here is Lisa's contact info:

http://avoiceforneli.com/