May Tomorrow Be Awake By: Joel Nyland If you are interested in learning about neurodivergent thought, I recommend Chris Martin’s book May Tomorrow Be Awake. It is a compilation of his experiences teaching neurodivergents how to use poetry to communicate. He writes about specific spellers and how they evolve as writers. For example, Chris mentions […]

Rehumanizing Access to Communication By Alexandra Ponsica, PIT I would like to rehumanize the communication needs of a nonspeaker, since semantics seem to be the reason so many nonspeakers cannot access their basic human right to communication in school instead of what the child needs. To put it into perspective, I am a mom to […]

Independence or Autonomy? By Alexandra Ponsica One goal that is often the main focus of parents, caregivers, and instructors of individuals with special needs is achieving independence. On the surface, it sounds like a fantastic goal. As a mother of twin 10 year old nonspeakers and spellers, it is certainly something I want my children […]

Legal Capacity and the Right to Communicate By: Nicolas Joncour I would like to talk to you about people who are not considered capable of making their own choices, because their disability prevents them from having their own acceptable desires. I see that the world needs to hear from those affected. The time I take […]

Hey everyone! I want to take some time to talk about the holidays. While we often imagine the holidays are filled with cheer and comradery that may not be the case for your Nonspeakers. Sometimes family members that are visiting don’t know how to treat us. Sometimes we get ignored or talked down to. I […]

College Bodies by: Anshil Kumar College is one of the most exciting and terrifying topics amongst the spelling community. We finally have an outlet of which we are able to display our intelligence, but we still are stuck in an impulsive body. Where is the balance between the two? What accommodations do we need to […]

Strategies for First Responders Interacting with Autistics and Nonspeakers By: Ian Nordling On a Saturday in August, and again in late October, I had the honor of presenting to a group of Fairfax County first responders. A few years ago, one of the individuals had been sent to Growing Kids Therapy Center (GKTC) to help […]

What Advocacy Means to a Late-in-Life Speller Everyone who knew me thought I was stupid because I couldn’t speak. The only things that came out of my mouth were nonsense, so I understand why people thought that. The fact is I was treated like a 4-year-old and denied an education because I was assumed to […]

Sexuality and Sex: Another Hard Conversation by Noah Seback Nonspeakers and sexuality. Nonspeakers and sex. Can these be mentioned in the same sentence?  Is this an oxymoron?  Did I read that correctly?  Yes!  I’m a nonspeaking autistic broaching the subject of sex and sexuality as it relates to our population. This topic is too rarely […]

Voting 101: Happy Disability Voting Rights Week! When it comes to voting, you ideally want to support a candidate who has the same morals and ideals as you. Voting for specific candidates will not be an overnight solution to the problems you see in legislation. Not only is it important to vote in both local […]