#situationally nonspeaking

[clownrecess]

You do not have the right to touch someone's disability aid without asking, whether that aid be a wheelchair or an AAC device.

"It's just a tablet, though." No, it is not. It is my voice. Touching or moving my device without my permission is like touching my mouth without permission, it's weird, gross, invasive, and rude. Stop.

Pushing someone's wheelchair without permission is like picking them up and moving them out of the way eithout permission, its weird, invasive, gross, and weird. Stop.

[thepolymorphexperience]

HUUUGEEE shout out to selfshippers who are mute, non-verbal/non-speaking, semi-verbal/semi-speaking, who are situationally speaking or non-speaking, and those of us who have verbal shutdowns as well!

Double shout out to selfshippers who also communicate in other ways than speaking words! whether that be sign language, gestures, or a type of AAC device!

Your F/Os love it when you communicate to them in a way you feel more comfortable! And if you have a device of some sort, they’d definitely help you decorate it! :3

[my-heads-gonna-explode]

I just tried looking for videos on YouTube about using AAC devices as an autistic adult, because I am having more frequent verbal shutdowns and I want to get used to using AAC when I need to. Most of the results I found fall into one of three categories:

1. Parents filming their kids using AAC devices (because, you know, who cares about your autistic child's privacy when you can get that autism mom cred on YouTube, right?)

2. Videos about how to introduce AAC to children (okay, this is better than the previous category, but where's the stuff for adults?)

3. Videos about how to spot autism in adults/tell if you're autistic as an adult (again, can be helpful, but not what I'm looking for.)

Do they think autistic people with speech issues stop having those issues when they're adults? Heck, I couldn't even find anything about AAC that wasn't about young children, so do they think it goes away when they become a teenager?

I don't know how to describe how I feel. I guess isolated? Unsupported? It feels like people don't know that adults who use AAC exist, so if I dare ever use it in public, nobody will know what I'm doing. They won't see me and go, "Oh, that person is using that device to talk. Okay." They'll stare, and wonder what the fuck that person is doing, making that robot voice talk. They'll think it's annoying and weird and unnecessary.

This is why we need to normalize AAC and other autistic aids for adults. We need to know that we aren't alone, and allistics need to know that AAC exists so they know how to respond when they actually see someone using it.

[buuuuggggggggggg]

Hi yes i have a question for the autistic community

Sometimes, i really hate just the act of talking. It feels unnatural to me. I still can, but it feels very bad and stresses me out. I will then type or just stay silent.

I also struggle with getting certain words out or sentences, best i can describe it is like a broken record, my brain gets stuck on a part of the sentence. (This is not language bound, happens in every language i speak)

I know there's a problem with people appropriating certain terms associated with speaking (semiverbal, nonverbal etc.)

So I'd like to know, are my issues acc valid and how should i express to someone that i have them without appropriating?

(I fully mean well with this post, im just not very well educated pls be kind)

[clownrecess]

It is not inappropriate for AAC users to have acsess to swear words.

My peers started swearing at around age 10, and if that is what language the speaking people of that age are using, nonspeaking people have the same right.

Not giving us acsess to the same type of language as our peers feels alienating, it doesn't let us communicate with the same language and terms our peers and friends do. We are not babies. We are not stupid. We are the same as our speaking peers. Just because you can sometimes control what language we use, doesnt mean you should.

[clownrecess]

Disablity aids are super cool.

You, and your aids look awesome, pretty/handsome/pleasant, and super rad.

I often feel embarrassed for wearing ear defenders, or for having a tablet harnessed around me but like?? That isnt what it is!! It is a disability aid. It is an AAC device. It is how I communicate, and there is no reason to he embarrassed by that.

[clownrecess]

(Tw for ableism, meltdowns, elopement, etc.)

Hi, I am currently in an argument with someone in a comment section because they are saying that autism is not a disability. So I decided that I want to make a post about it, and thoroughly talk about it.

If you do not know me, hello. I am an autistic primarily nonspeaking teenager with mid-high support needs. I'm disabled.

I am honestly very tired of low support needs autistics saying that autism isnt disabling, because it very much is for me and a lot of other people. Just because your experience isnt the same as ours, doesn't cancel out our experience.

I will never live alone. I am a teenager who can not make food, or blow dry his own hair. My ability to use oral speech varies a lot, and when I can use it, I usually end up having severe meltdowns from it. I am in special ed. It hurts when I brush my hair. I have put myself in danger by running into the street. My emotions are extremely strong, so I often seem rude when I'm not, I just can't control the fact that when I feel something it's so incredibly strong that it hurts. I have little to no internal sensation. I could not bathe myself until I was 9 or ten, and even now I will not just go and take a shower myself; I need someone to tell me to, and I need a visual schedule to help me do so. And many more things.

The person's response was to then say that is not because I am autistic, that is because of the way mankind is. That my autism is not disabling, society is. And whilst I do agree that society is horrible to disabled people, and it would be much much easier to exist as a disabled person in this world if society was different, that doesn't change the fact that my autism is disabling. Me being nonspeaking is not because of society. Me being unable to care for myself is not because of society. Most of the things on that list are not because of society!

Just because low support needs people exist, does absolutely not give them the right to speak over us, and tell us what our experiences are or are not.

My autism is disabling. Listen to me. Listen to me. My life has been severely impacted because I am disabled. You can not sit there and tell me that me being unable to care for myself, and unable to live alone ever, isn't disabling, and that it's because of society.

I am disabled. Stop speaking over high support needs autistics.

[clownrecess]

(Tw for a VERY brief mention of infantilization)

I want to talk about interacting with AAC users in person, specifically for speaking people.

1. Being an AAC user, I get left behind during conversations a lot because it takes me longer to add in my statement. By the time I'm done, the topic has oftentimes changed and then what I want to say isnt relevant anymore, and sometimes wont even be understood because to everyone else what I just said was out of place and random. This feels really frustrating and sometimes isolating, as well as embarrassing. Please wait for us, we want to converse too.

2. Sometimes when I am not yet done responding, people will watch me and try to guess what I'm going to say. If all I've got down so far is "I already", people might go "I already.. know!" "I already.. saw!" etc. Please stop doing that. Even if you got the idea correct, you might use the wrong words, which frustrates me. And even if you say it all correctly it's still frustrating, imagine if someone tried to guess what you were saying by interrupting you every time you started to talk. It's annoying.

3. Dont comment on what in our folders. If I open a folder to get to another word, and whilst doing that you see a different word in it that's funny or inappropriate or whatever, keep it to yourself. Its annoying. You have acsess to those words, and it isnt treated as weird, so why is it for me?

4. Don't infantilize us. We aren't perpetually children. We are our age. Treat us as if we are a speaking person of our age.