{"title":"How Ableism impacts people who use AAC.","authors":"Lateef McLeod","doi":"10.1080/07434618.2025.2489662","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ableism is a form of oppression with pernicious consequences for people who use AAC. Historically, Ableist ideologies led to attempts to erase disability from the social fabric (e.g., the Eugenics movement). Speechism is the prejudice and discrimination of people because their language, use of language, or mode of expression is deemed inferior. Speechism and Ableism obstruct the true reality of the experiences of people who use AAC. Ableism presumes that the abled-bodied experience is the only legitimate and valid experience and does not recognize that many disabled people experience their lives very differently. This perspective makes invisible the ableist experiences that disabled people have to face in many facets of our lives. This problem is compounded for people who use AAC who may face challenges explaining the full extent and impact of these ableist experiences. As an AAC community, we must confront Ableism in our field and industry by always prioritizing the lived experiences of people who use AAC in the development of AAC technology and policy. People who use AAC must be at the decision table regarding everything that involves us as a community. We can have an anti-ableist future only if disabled people to lead the way.</p>","PeriodicalId":49234,"journal":{"name":"Augmentative and Alternative Communication","volume":" ","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Augmentative and Alternative Communication","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2025.2489662","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Ableism is a form of oppression with pernicious consequences for people who use AAC. Historically, Ableist ideologies led to attempts to erase disability from the social fabric (e.g., the Eugenics movement). Speechism is the prejudice and discrimination of people because their language, use of language, or mode of expression is deemed inferior. Speechism and Ableism obstruct the true reality of the experiences of people who use AAC. Ableism presumes that the abled-bodied experience is the only legitimate and valid experience and does not recognize that many disabled people experience their lives very differently. This perspective makes invisible the ableist experiences that disabled people have to face in many facets of our lives. This problem is compounded for people who use AAC who may face challenges explaining the full extent and impact of these ableist experiences. As an AAC community, we must confront Ableism in our field and industry by always prioritizing the lived experiences of people who use AAC in the development of AAC technology and policy. People who use AAC must be at the decision table regarding everything that involves us as a community. We can have an anti-ableist future only if disabled people to lead the way.
期刊介绍:
As the official journal of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC), Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) publishes scientific articles related to the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) that report research concerning assessment, treatment, rehabilitation, and education of people who use or have the potential to use AAC systems; or that discuss theory, technology, and systems development relevant to AAC. The broad range of topic included in the Journal reflects the development of this field internationally. Manuscripts submitted to AAC should fall within one of the following categories, AND MUST COMPLY with associated page maximums listed on page 3 of the Manuscript Preparation Guide.
Research articles (full peer review), These manuscripts report the results of original empirical research, including studies using qualitative and quantitative methodologies, with both group and single-case experimental research designs (e.g, Binger et al., 2008; Petroi et al., 2014).
Technical, research, and intervention notes (full peer review): These are brief manuscripts that address methodological, statistical, technical, or clinical issues or innovations that are of relevance to the AAC community and are designed to bring the research community’s attention to areas that have been minimally or poorly researched in the past (e.g., research note: Thunberg et al., 2016; intervention notes: Laubscher et al., 2019).