First written in 1995, revised in 2016, the Communication Bill of Rights is an important document created by the National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of Persons With Severe Disabilities (NJC), that outlines 15 fundamental rights for all communicators. While many professionals who support complex communicators, are familiar with these rights, how many AAC communicators are aware of the rights afforded them along with the teams making decisions that impact them? How do we empower AAC users to self-advocate and AAC professionals to advocate for those who use AAC?
Let’s take the Communication Bill of Rights off the wall and put it into practice.
Initial results for those who use AAC were increased:
- Participation in social settings
- Engagement in the classroom
- Asking more questions to gain information
- Frequency and use of a variety of communicative functions
- Opportunities to develop meaningful skills and
- Happiness, joy, and connectedness.
Professionals who support those who may benefit from AAC carry the power to influence others. We will discuss the many ways they can create change within their spheres of influence. Participants will be encouraged to identify their advocacy style and explore practical and promising ideas to use as they better the experience of the communicators they support.
