Anne McDonald
For people without speech, talking is often dependent on the generosity of others, either in providing interpretation or facilitation or in giving up time to listen. While this is inevitable, there needs to be an irreducible right to make one's opinions known on issues concerning your future well-being.
At the moment social conversation and medical consent are equal in the sight of the law, both depending on the accidental availability of communication partners with the necessary skills and commitment.
There is no right to be heard. There is no right to an interpreter. There is no obligation to listen.
While social interactions are always dependent on
the
politeness and
tolerance of individuals, it should be possible to legislate for
in formal situations such as courts, hospitals and
schools.
Without such legally enforceable rights, people without speech will be
at the mercy of decision-makers who can arbitrarily decide to disallow
communication.
If you're interested in my
other work, check these out....
If you want to know about my years in hell, try St.
Nicholas Hospital.
If you want to know what it did to me, read My
Frankenstein.
If you want to know what I think of euthanasia, read this.
If you want to know more about my story, read the book
I wrote
with
Rosemary Crossley - Annie's Coming Out, Penguin Books.
It's out of print, but second-hand copies are available on Amazon
and Alibris.
If you want to know how I got out, look up Facilitated
Communication Training.
If you want to know why communication is so important, read The
Right to Communicate.
And read about the
people who are trying to stop it.
And there's my work on The
Terrible Triple C, another one of
the ways in which professionals bastardise people with disability.
If you want to know how I enjoy myself, watch this.
Here are a few links
to friends.
I also work for DEAL and CAUS, and speak on issues of
disability. I'll put up some of my presentations when I can.
Warning: there is quite a bit of overlap between these
articles. When you take as long as I do to spell a sentence you
use it as often as you can, and the hell with repetition.
