Perspectives will be updated regularly with profiles and guest blogs from our members and allies, essays, news, photos, videos, and other features. Come back often!
Have you ever thought about running for political office? Here’s your chance to hear from four people with speech-related disabilities about their experiences running for elected office and otherwise being active in electoral politics. Register here for this one-of-a-kind, 90-minute, live webinar on December 15, 2021, at 2:30 pm ET.…
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We are pleased to announce that CommunicationFIRST, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), and six students with disabilities have successfully resolved our federal restraint and seclusion case against Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Virginia. Two of the student plaintiffs, Q.T. and…
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Pancho Ramirez is CommunicationFIRST’s newest Board member. As a Mexican immigrant farmworker, he acquired his speech disability in 2003 at age 20 after a car accident led to a brain stem stroke, and has lived in nursing homes and hospitals in northern California ever since. While living in an institutional…
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The U.S. Government‘s Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) helps determine how federal government money related to autism is spent. Although CommunicationFIRST is a cross-disability organization, a large percentage of our constituency is autistic. We have been encouraged to submit comments to help inform the 2021-2022 IACC Strategic Plan, and we…
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by endever* corbin This guest blog is adapted from a presentation given at the August 2021 Reinventing Quality conference. I’m endever*, I go by they/them pronouns, and I’m a mostly nonspeaking autistic self-advocate. I focus a lot of my writing and presentations on my experiences with AAC-augmentative and alternative communication. …
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On November 5, 2021, CommunicationFIRST’s Policy Director, Bob Williams, submitted written testimony to urge the DC Council (Washington, DC’s legislative body) to quickly pass a bill that would eliminate a requirement for IQ tests to be used in deciding who qualifies to receive developmental disability services. The Developmental Disability Eligibility…
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On November 10, 2021, CommunicationFIRST hosted an opportunity for AAC users to interview Jordyn Zimmerman about the new documentary This Is Not About Me, featuring Jordyn and her educational experiences with and without access to robust augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). CommunicationFIRST’s Policy Director (and full-time AAC user), Bob Williams, moderated…
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We are thrilled and humbled to share that our film LISTEN: Made by and with Nonspeaking Autistics won the Zukor Award at the 2021 Astoria Film Festival last weekend! The Zukor Award is awarded to a film that brings positive attention to an underrepresented topic or group. Congratulations to the…
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On October 13, 2021, CommunicationFIRST is excited to join with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, and AssistiveWare in celebrating the public release of This Is Not About Me, a documentary featuring one of our Board members, Jordyn Zimmerman. Although the film tells Jordyn’s story, it…
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