AutCom Policy and Principles on Facilitated Communication

The Autism National Committee (AutCom) is the only autism advocacy organization dedicated to "Social Justice for All Citizens with Autism".  Since 2008, AutCom has had a Policy and highly detailed Principles regarding Facilitated Communication (FC or FCT for facilitated communication training).  Brief excerpts are printed below.

POLICY: It is the policy of the Autism National Committee that everyone has something to say and a right to say it. Facilitated Communication is one accepted and valid way in which individuals with autism can exercise their right to say what they have to say.

PRINCIPLES: 

"People with disabilities (including those on the autism spectrum) who do not communicate meaningfully through speech must have an available means of communication that allows their fullest participation in the world....

AutCom affirms that FC has already proven to be profoundly beneficial in the lives of many people by opening the door to reliable, trusted, and respected symbolic communication for the first time."

Follow this link to read the entire document. http://www.autcom.org/articles/PPFC.pdf 

TASH Resolution on Facilitated Communication

The TASH website (www.tash.org) is being revised.  During this time, links to some of the TASH resolutions are not working.  We are providing this copy of the TASH Resolution on Facilitated Communication for reference here in the meantime.  It may also be downloaded from this site:  http://www.docstoc.com/docs/27537042/tash-resolution-on-the-right-to-communicate
Judy Bailey, Chair, TASH Communication (AAC) Committee
 

TASH RESOLUTION ON FACILITATED COMMUNICATION

Statement of Purpose
Facilitated communication (also referred to as facilitated communication training), is one of many augmentative and alternative communication techniques that is used by some individuals who cannot speak or whose speech is limited and who cannot point reliably. The method involves a communication partner, typically called a facilitator (e.g. teacher, friend, parent) providing physical and emotional support as the person points at pictures, letters, words, or other symbols.
Rationale
The method is controversial. In some research studies, individuals using facilitation have not demonstrated that they were able to convey their own thoughts through the method. Some studies have revealed that individuals could be influenced by or pick up on cues from their facilitators. In other studies, individuals have demonstrated the ability to express their own ideas and to do so without influence or cue seeking. Others have progressed from supported to independent typing.
The question of authorship can become particularly controversial when the subject of what has been communicated concerns sensitive issues. Such topics may include, for example, preferences about living arrangements, allegations of abuse, and selection of personal assistants.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, THAT TASH, an international advocacy association of people with disabilities, their family members, other advocates and people who work in the disability field:

• regards access to alternative means of expression an individual right.*
• encourages its membership to become informed about the complexities of facilitated communication training and practice and to stay informed of new research and practice throughout the facilitated communication training process.
• encourages rigorous and ongoing training for people who decide to become facilitators.
• encourages careful, reflective use of facilitated communication.
• encourages facilitators to work in collaboration with individuals with severe disabilities to find ways of monitoring authorship when using facilitation. To this end, TASH encourages use of multiple strategies, including, for example; empirical research methods (qualitative and quantitative) and transitioning to independent typing.
• urges that when allegations of abuse or other sensitive communications occur, facilitators and others seek clarification of the communication and work to ensure that users of facilitation are given the same access to legal and other systems that are available to persons without disabilities.

It is important not to silence those who could prove their communication competence while using facilitation or any other method of expression.
* See the TASH "Resolution on the Right to Communicate," revised December, 2000.

ADOPTED DECEMBER, 1994
REVISED December, 2000

http://www.tash.org/IRR/resolutions/res02faccom.htm

TASH Resolution on the Right to Communicate

The TASH website is being revised.   www.tash.org   For the present, some of the links to resolutions, such as this one, are not yet working.  We are providing this copy for reference in the meantime.   It may also be downloaded from this site:  http://www.docstoc.com/docs/27537042/tash-resolution-on-the-right-to-communicate

   Judy Bailey, Chair, TASH Communication (AAC) Committee

TASH RESOLUTION ON THE RIGHT TO COMMUNICATE

Statement of Purpose
The right to communicate is both a basic human right and the means by which all other rights are realized. All people communicate. In the name of fully realizing the guarantee of individual rights, we must ensure:

• that all people have a means of communication which allows their fullest participation in the wider world;
• that people can communicate using their chosen method; and
• that their communication is heeded by others.

Where people lack an adequate communication system, they deserve to have others try with them to discover and secure an appropriate system. No person should have this right denied because they have been diagnosed as having a particular disability. Access to effective means of communication is a free speech issue.
Rationale
Access to Communication. All persons with disabilities should be provided therapy and training directed towards permitting them to communicate freely. All people with communication disabilities should be given the full opportunity to use augmentative and alternative communication. "Access" includes a) access to assessment to judge the suitability of the method, b) access to training in the method, c) access to any equipment needed, both in the short term during training and in the longer term for continued use on a daily basis if training is successful, and d) access to training for support people so access to communication can take place across environments.
Education. Instruction in communication is an essential element of the education of people with communication disabilities. People using augmentative or alternative communication must be given any assistance necessary in order to communicate with others at school or in their educational program. Any equipment, training or staffing necessary to enable communication to take place must be supplied, both to that person and to those with whom he or she wishes to interact on a regular basis. The collaborative education team must ensure that all such communication equipment, or comparable equipment, follow the person when transitioning away from the school.
Freedom to Communicate. No person should be able to veto the use of another person's augmentative or alternative communication, and in any instances where such use is forbidden, there should be recourse to the legal and protective systems. People with communication disabilities must be allowed to use the communication system of their own choice in all communication interactions in any setting.
Legal Issues. People using augmentative communication must be permitted to use the system of their own choice in court. Any person using a communication strategy requiring the involvement of another person to receive and relay their communication must be permitted to use the partner of their choice in court. Each state's protection and advocacy system should develop the resources needed to support such full participation in the legal process.
Presumption of Competence in Decision-Making and Advocacy. People are presumed to have an active interest in decisions affecting their lives on a short-term and long-term basis. In planning or decision-making on a person's behalf, that person's participation must be ensured regardless of the formal communication modalities used. This may include the involvement of allies, advocates and communication partners before and after meetings, and may also include the involvement of a "communication ally" during the course of the meeting.
ORIGINALLY ADOPTED NOVEMBER 1992
REVISED December 2000

http://www.tash.org/IRR/resolutions/res02communicate.htm  

The Right to Communicate, Climbing Every Mountain blog by Mary Ulrich

Thanks to Mary Ulrich for this lovely article about the Right to Communicate and a new film "about the life-sustaining power of relationships–the personal connections people make through communication" and "the power of personal assistants and communication partners."

The Right to Communicate, Wretches & Jabberers, Climbing Every Mountain

“Wretches and Jabberers is a movie celebrating disability, advocacy, the right to communicate and autism awareness month: April 2011.”

http://climbingeverymountain.com/the-right-to-communicate-wretches-jabberers/

Not being able to speak is not the same as not having anything to say

Everyone has something to say, even if they cannot speak.  Spread the word about the importance of presuming competence in people who do not speak. 

T-shirt:  "Not being able to speak is not the same as not having anything to say."  

 
This quote is also available printed on a sweatshirt, postcard, tote bag, poster.  Available from Human Policy Press.  

http://thechp.syr.edu/HumanPolicyPress/HPP_ORDER_FORM.htm