Facilitated communication is where a person is physically involved in another person who has communication challenges.
A must see story tonight on the ABC program 7:30 PM (Victoria)
Tuesday, 21 May, 7:58 pm
(Melbourne-Australia)
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Simon Kneebone Cartoonist & Illustrator Email:simon.kneebone@internode.on.net |
WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Hi Macka, As a person who has little or no speech (CCN; SCI; or the myriad of other terms used) and advocate, I watched the very biased program with a great deal of interest. While Facilitated Communication is still somewhat controversial, when it is used by trained facilitators it is legitimate. This can take several years and depends very much on the people involved. VALID (formerly the I stood for Intellectual but changed to Individual) therefore it should treat ALL people as Individuals! I urge you to investigate how often Leonie McFarland’s parents actually visited her at St Nicholas “Hospital” and why she was prevented from attending the AGOSCI Conference in Adelaide 2011?
Regards,
Hank.
VALID’s war on FC is not advocacy! VALID supports the parents but is against the wishes and best interests of the people with the disabilities. VALID’s shallow and extreme position on FC, and aggressive promotion of this extreme view, is hurting many people that use FC. VALID and the similarly extreme Alan Hudson (self-proclaimed expert) seem to relish in each others company on a shrinking island of ignorance.
Hi Macka,
I can only add my voice to those who were horrified by this story. I am the mother of 10 year old boy who has severe physical & intellectual disabilities. My son cannot speak and communicates via assistance with communication devices. I was absolutely horrified to see this story. How is that Seth from VALID, a so called disability advocate, could get away with promoting that assisted communication is rubbish. And how on earth could Seth promote that he is also a communication expert!. Did anybody think that perhaps the young lady in question was saying ‘no’ I don’t want to press the ‘yes’ button. I’d certainly not want to communicate with this idiot. Why does VALID get funding for promoting backward attitudes? I was horrified. My son is due to go to Anne Mc Donald Centre in the next couple of weeks to be assessed for his communication needs. What a fabulous service they offer. I sincerely hope that my son will never need to use VALID. I also urge the ABC do a follow-up story on the great word of the Anne McDonald Foundation. We’d be happy to oblige.