AAC's

AAC's. FOR EVERY NON VERBAL CHILD 

Lifesaving Help Every Autism Supporter Should Be Demanding Now

There is an emergency being ignored every single day. People talk endlessly about autism acceptance, neurodiversity, sensory issues, masking, burnout, identity, community, self-advocacy, all of it. 

Hours of content. Thousands of posts. Yet the most basic, life-preserving priority is barely pushed at all.

 Functional communication for people who cannot speak. AAC. 

The thing that actually protects people. The thing that gives autonomy, safety and dignity. The thing that should be the very first demand of every advocate, not the last.

There is no excuse for this silence.

 There is enough insight out there about autistic thinking, autistic perception and autistic emotional sophistication to fill libraries.

 But where are the loud voices insisting that non verbal autistic people, and all those with limited expressive ability, must have access to working communication tools?

Some local NHS depts *do* have AAC services but not nearly enough people are aware- nor are they told of 'neuroplasticity' - the more you exercise the brain- the more new neural connections it makes! 

Never give up hope of improving communications!

 Why is the core need being drowned out by endless commentary? If the advocacy world were doing its job, AAC would be on every poster, every panel, every organisation's homepage, every campaign.

Communication is survival. It is safety. It is the foundation of human rights. People who cannot communicate clearly are at extreme risk of exploitation, medical neglect, abuse, coercion, restraint, unnecessary behavioural programming, emotional harm and institutional gaslighting. A person with no voice is treated as if they have no mind. No opinion. No agency. No rights. That is the truth, whether people want to face it or not.

Without AAC, non verbal people are often forced into the care of professionals who underestimate them, override them, make assumptions about their feelings and preferences, and build behavioural plans around guesses. Even the most well-meaning behaviourist can inflict harm if they are working blind. Many of them do not understand that emotional and cognitive competence can exist with no speech at all. Many assume lack of speech means lack of understanding, lack of feeling, lack of intelligence, or lack of connection. Meanwhile they march on with charts, tokens, routines and consequences while a real human being sits there unheard.

This is why AAC is not optional. It is not a luxury. It is not an extra. It is not something families should be left to discover by accident or fight for alone. It is the primary tool that prevents abuse, prevents neglect, and protects human rights. A communication device or app is not just a gadget. It is defence. It is the shield that stops predators, stops controlling carers, stops institutional harm, stops the worst kinds of behavioural nonsense from steamrolling over a person’s actual needs.

If you are an autistic advocate, a disability ally, a professional, a parent, a support worker, or simply someone who claims to care, you should be demanding AAC for every person who needs it. No exceptions. No excuses. And certainly no hiding behind philosophy, jargon, or theories about “readiness.” Readiness is a myth invented by people who have never had their rights stripped away because their mouth couldn’t move the way they wanted it to.

People who oppose AAC, minimise its usefulness, or pretend it’s not urgent are revealing more about themselves than they realise. It is suspicious when anyone fights against communication tools. What are they afraid someone will say once they finally have a voice? Who benefits from keeping people silent? A large proportion of harm against disabled people depends on that silence.

The vulnerable need allies with stronger spines than that. You cannot claim to care about people and then ration their access to the only thing that keeps them safe. You cannot advocate for rights while denying the most basic right of all: the right to express yourself.

Autistic people who can speak have a responsibility to champion the needs of those who cannot. Not out of charity, but out of solidarity. Silence is dangerous. It exposes people to harm. Speaking people must be the ones pushing hardest so that non verbal autistic people are not left to navigate a world designed against them with no tools and no support.

Here are practical beginnings. Free AAC resources exist. Free symbol-supported apps exist. Free teaching materials exist. There are tutorials, downloadable boards, communication templates, and starter kits intended for people who cannot afford expensive devices. Families and carers must be pointed toward them immediately, not years into the journey when damage has already accumulated.

There are also guides about protecting disabled children and vulnerable adults, and articles explaining how exploitation happens when communication is blocked or dismissed. People need these resources now, not after another preventable tragedy.

If you want to call yourself an advocate, your first priority is simple. Demand AAC. Share AAC. Promote AAC. Fight for AAC funding. Normalise AAC use in public. Show it everywhere. Teach people that communication comes in many forms and all of them are valid.

A world that leaves non verbal people unheard is not an inclusive world. It is a dangerous one. The most meaningful act of support you can offer is not a slogan or a social media post. It is ensuring that every silent person has a way to speak.

Today is a good day to start doing that.