In June 2020, following the death of George Floyd, we felt it was important to say something in support of the Black Lives Matters movement. We created a script and video collaboratively to express our support. Please share this widely for us. Change in attitude is required to bring everyone together to fight against injustice towards Black communities.
We know that true accessibility requires more acceptance and awareness in our communities at large and that young people are a strong voice in advocacy. I-ASC wishes to create a network of passionate and informed young people working to make acceptance and awareness a reality.
The I-ASC Spellers & Allies Advocacy Network is a group of spellers and allies who advocate together around issues that concern nonspeaking people, such as agency, autonomy, and access. Through public education and advocacy campaigns, we seek to make real change for all nonspeaking people. The Spellers & Allies Advocacy Network welcomes nonspeaking, minimally speaking and unreliably speaking adults above the age of 18. We welcome allies and anyone interested in becoming an ally between the ages of 18-30.
When Spellers & Allies began, we collaboratively created a culture code to ensure that everyone in our group feels valued and empowered. All of our members agree to follow and honor these values before joining our group. Please read our culture code here. Culture Code Our group members agree to follow and honor these values. If you are new to being an ally to nonspeaking people. Learn more here in our blog post: How to be an Ally
Learn more about our network and important information before getting involved in our Orientation Handbook.
In the fall of 2020, Spellers & Allies decided to extend our age range for nonspeaking, minimally speaking and unreliably speaking members. We now welcome anyone who identifies as nonspeaking over the age of 18. We welcome allies and anyone wishing to become an ally to nonspeaking people between the ages of 18-30. Join our movement now by emailing spellers-allies@i-asc.org or visit our webpage at www.i-asc.org/spellers-allies.
Presuming Competence Meme CampaignPresume competence means to never underestimate the abilities of a nonspeaker by visualizing them as having an intellect. During the initial meetings and conversations in Spellers & Allies, spelling members repeatedly brought up how important presuming competence was to them and how they felt that people all around them continue not to presume competence. For this reason, we decided to launch an online meme campaign about presuming competence. Check out I-ASC’s social media pages Facebook and Instagram to share and like our memes. Do you have an idea for a meme? We would love to hear from you!
Interview Project
I-ASC initiated the Spellers & Allies Advocacy Network because we knew that we needed to build the I-ASC movement on relationships. We wanted all speaking allies to have a chance to have a conversation with a nonspeaker so that they knew who nonspeakers are and why this advocacy is so important. This is one of the ways that we make “nothing for us without us” a true tenet of I-ASC and our advocacy work. Unfortunately, in-depth conversations between nonspeaking people and speaking people of the same age group rarely happen. We want to work to change this. Here is a snapshot of these first conversations. Now you can get to know the members of the Spellers & Allies Advocacy Network and so that you can imagine a different world with us.
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