The NY State Bill

All of us here at M2H are beginning to believe that times, they are a’changing. We will really believe that things are finally moving in the right direction when the the New York State legislature passes the “communication bill of rights” without discriminating against us. 


If you haven’t been following the story, here’s a summary: a bill that was meant to protect the disabled person’s choice of communication method or device got doctored at the last minute as it was coming out of the disability committee. Language was added which flagrantly discriminated against us:

“Each person with a disability has the right to communicate in their preferred manner and no state agency, school, community residence or service provider shall restrict or deny access to a validated communication method.  For the purposes of this section, “validated” shall mean that the communication method used is recognized as an appropriate technique that is accepted by authoritative professional organizations such as the American Speech-Hearing Association (ASHA), an empirical support  demonstrating that the method results in independent (not facilitator influenced or cued) communication on the part of the person communicating.  The methods described in this section shall specifically exclude scientifically unproven or discredited techniques such as facilitated communication, and all its forms, whereby external person may influence the content of communication by physical, auditory, or visual means including, but not limited to, holding the person’s arm while they type or holding a letterboard while the person points to letters…”


The shit hit the fan in the spelling community. Having ASHA determine validity is insane. The organization is completely biased. So the spelling community went nuts - even those who don’t live in this state. My Dad, who runs the Autism Action Network, and Justin’s dad, Tom Abinanti, who was an assemblyman here for many years, immediately started contacting friends in the state government. 

How it will all turn out is to be determined still. I am hopeful that at least the offending language won’t pass. Stay tuned for updates.