Giving Tuesday

We postponed our 4th birthday fundraiser in early October due to world events. This week, we are combining Giving Tuesday with that annual fundraiser and setting an ambitious goal of raising $25,000 by December 1! Help us celebrate our birthday and Giving Tuesday at the same time. We cannot advance our mission to improve the civil rights of people with speech disabilities without your support. The first $2,500 was matched by the law firm of Vanaman German LLP. The next $7,000 in contributions will be matched by The Gupta Foundation! Thank you for your generosity!

$19,618 of $25,000 raised

Help us reach our goal!

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Donation Total: $250.00 One Time

With your help, over the past 4 years, we have begun to transform the national conversation about the legal rights and lived experiences of people who need and use augmentative and alternative (AAC) tools and supports. We are ensuring conversations at the federal and state level around policy issues that impact us – guardianship, access to health care, restraint and seclusion, education, access to justice, employment, institutionalization, effective communication, and more – include our voices and address our interests. We are ambitious and unrelenting disabled advocates who believe in radical inclusion and acceptance. We are ﬁghting to change hearts and minds, and to build a world that centers justice, community, dignity, and humanity. And we are just getting started. We have so much more to do and with your help, we will!

Stock image photo of white hands typing on a laptop keyboard

Digital Accessibility for AAC Users is a Civil Rights Issue

By Communication FIRST | November 7, 2023

Government websites and apps are a central lever for exercising our civic and constitutionally grounded rights and responsibilities of freedom of expression, assembly, grievance, petition, protest, jury duty, and the franchise. As a matter of right and necessity, people who need AAC must be afforded equally effective access to state and local government websites and apps that all others are afforded.

Stock image photo showing two hands, one on a tablet and one holding a writing utensil in front of an open laptop

Federally Funded Research About AAC Needs to Change

By Communication FIRST | November 7, 2023

Last month, CommunicationFIRST submitted extensive input to one of the largest federal government funders of AAC-related research – the National…

The FCC Needs to Address Digital Discrimination Against People Who Need AAC

By Communication FIRST | October 17, 2023

Invited Remarks of CommunicationFIRST Policy Director Bob Williams to the Federal Communications Commission Task Force to Prevent Digital Discrimination September 14, 2023 Gallaudet…

CommunicationFIRST Welcomes Long-Overdue Disability Rights Rule Proposal

By Communication FIRST | September 7, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 7, 2023 Contact: Tauna Szymanski & Bob Williams at info@communicationfirst.org, 202-556-0573 WASHINGTON, D.C. – CommunicationFIRST,…

Unjustly isolated, silenced, and deprived of literacy and freedom of expression …

By Communication FIRST | August 29, 2023

I escaped the very worst that hundreds of thousands of baby boomers like me endured: institutionalization, isolation, illiteracy, and silencing. We believe that many — and likely most — young people needing AAC today are suffering virtually the same fate I escaped over 50 years ago.