In the News - United for Communication Choice

In the News

National Coalition, United For Communication Choice Oppose ASHA's Attempts to Restrict Communication Choice

A diverse coalition of 23 civil and disability rights organizations has called on the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) to withdraw two proposed position statements that recommend against the further use of methodologies known as Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) and Facilitated Communication (FC).

Proponents of Facilitated Communication Defend Midwest Summer Institute

Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (Iowa) About 200 people attend an annual conference at the University of Northern Iowa aimed at supporting parents, educators and others who communicate with non-speakers using augmentative communication including…

Devoted Dad is Partner in Autistic Graduate’s Success

Tulane University (Louisiana) Story about the 2018 graduation from Tulane University of Ben Alexander, a nonspeaking autistic student who was awarded a generous scholarship and majored in English and Jewish Studies. His father accompanied…

WNY Girl With Autism Helps Others Find Their Voice

WGRZ-TV (New York) Buffalo, New York NBC-TV-affiliate story about nonspeaking autistic 7th grader Reagan Fast, who is on the high honor roll at her local public school and whose dream is to study botany at UC Berkeley. Reagan communicates…

DJ Savarese Tells His Story in New Documentary 'Deej'

Iowa Public Radio “David James ‘DJ’ Savarese is a poet, prose writer, and recent alumni of Oberlin College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a double major in Anthropology and Creative Writing. He is also autistic and nonspeaking.…

Camarillo Boy, 10, Shares His Story of Autism with Ventura College Students

Ventura County Star (California) Ten-year-old Camarillo, California author Diego Peña, who communicates by typing on an iPad and by pointing to letters on a letterboard, speaks at Ventura College for the 2018 Diversity in Culture Festival…

‘Communication is a Basic Human Right’: How this Man with Nonverbal Autism Found His Voice

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation -- Twenty-one-year-old California resident Ido Kedar says, “My mom and dad found me a teacher who taught me to type independently. Then it became really hard for the experts to refute. But it took time to…

Nonverbal and College Bound

The Daily Cal (California) Column in daily student newspaper of the University of California Berkeley by junior Hari Srinivasan about his journey to and experience at UC Berkeley so far as a nonspeaking autistic student, and that of fellow…

Communication Conundrum

The Daily Cal (California) UC Berkeley student staff writer for The Daily Cal student newspaper, Hari Srinivasan, is nonspeaking and communicates by typing. In this piece, he explains his neurology and characterizes intelligence in terms…

My Autism Allows Me To See the World in a Different Way

Time (Japan) Time magazine interviews Naoki Higashida, author of The Reason I Jump and Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8, about what it is like to be a person with nonspeaking autism. “My basic methods of communication are my letter board and…

Brilliance of Autistic Teen 'Set Free' By New Device

Staten Island Real-Time News (New York) Nineteen-year-old autistic Staten Island resident Nicholas D’Amora communicates with a QWERTY letterboard. “‘It has to be at their appropriate level; you have to assume competence, but this…

Autistic Portland Boy Who Won a Prestigious Trip Told He Can’t Go

The Oregonian YouTube channel Seventeen year-old Niko Boskovic wins United Nations Educational Pilgrimage for Youth essay contest sponsored by the Odd Fellows Lodge. Odd Fellows withdraws the award after learning he has autism. Niko communicates…

Family: Portland Teenager Denied National Trip Because He Has Autism

KPTV Fox12 (Oregon) Portland, Oregon Fox-TV-affiliate story about 17-year-old Niko Boskovic winning United Nations Educational Pilgrimage for Youth essay contest sponsored by the Odd Fellows Lodge but then being denied the ‘prize’ of…

Mother of Reinvention

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia) Story by Atlanta parent Alison Auerbach who started The Connections School of Atlanta for students with autism to enable its graduates to seamlessly matriculate to and graduate from high school.…

'I Want to Show that Someone Who Can't Speak Thinks Many Thoughts, Understands Everything'

The Journal.ie (Ireland) Sixteen-year-old Dublin, Ireland resident Fiacre Ryan describes what his daily life as an autistic is like and how Rapid Prompting Method has given him a way to fully express his thoughts and feelings. “I am…

Pioneering Change for Autism: University of Virginia Seminar Studies Tension Between 'Science and Lived Experience of Autism'

The Connection Newspapers (Virginia) Members of The Tribe, a group of young adult nonspeaking autistics from the Washington, D.C. area, participate in a University of Virginia seminar on autism, and meet with state and local politicians.…

Unlimited Potential: Local Youth Dream Big, Achieve Great Results

Ventura County Reporter (California) Diego Peña, author of Anatomy of Autism: A Pocket Guide for Educators, Parents, and Students, shares how autism impacts his daily life as well as his plans to be a self-advocate. Diego is included in…

Livermore Boy Emerges From Autistic Shell, Letter by Letter

The Independent (California) Matteo Musso and his mother Annette of Livermore, California, share their journey with Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) and the homeschooling courses he is taking, including calculus, creative writing, art, math and…

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