To include us in our own worlds: AAC is not optional
This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.
About the autistic author markerKoloni, R. (2025). To include us in our own worlds: AAC is not optional. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 41(3), 226-229. https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2025.2515283
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Authors
Abstract
AAC as a field, a category of technologies, and a culture has advanced tremendously and rapidly in the past 40 years, yet the vast majority of people who cannot rely on speech alone to be heard and understood still lack meaningful access to effective communication that meets their physical, emotional, social, and cultural needs, and fulfills the civil and human rights to which they are entitled. The following article discusses some of the underlying reasons for these access gaps, but more importantly, highlights their devastating effects: an entire disability community subjected to repeated, pervasive, and often lifelong trauma. Indeed, many of the "challenging behaviors" traditionally considered inherent to certain communication-related disabilities may actually be the result of communication deprivation and its complications, including lifelong experiences of ableism, abuse, and violence against which one has no recourse. With so much at stake, it is crucial that AAC researchers learn from the words of those of us with access to the tools we need to share them, toward the shared goal of a world where that access is ubiquitous.
Bibliography cited by this reference
Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.
Cited bibliography overview
These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 12 Sep 2026 01:04.
- With a DOI
- 11
- Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
- 11
- References with detected author names
- 16 / 23 (69.6%)
- Without detected author names
- 7
- Without a structured title
- 7
- Without a stable identifier
- 9
- References with raw author names still to review
- 7
- References with external metadata lookup issues
- 0
- From DOI or external metadata
- 28
- From validated raw bibliography text
- 0
- Raw names already validated
- 0
- Raw names still to review
- 12
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