Podcast: Amplifying Nonspeaking Voices

My name is Vinny Bertrani, and I am almost 13. I was 9 when my Mom brought me to Mouth to Hand to learn how to type for communication. It was incredibly difficult for me at first because I had kind of checked out. School was so awful and boring that I really didn’t engage with the world. To put it bluntly, I was in la la land. Before I could learn to spell, I had to learn to stay in my cognitive brain where I could actually think. 

My teachers here at Mouth to Hand dragged me out of the fog, and once I could talk, they began to educate me. I love to learn. My Mom tried to get my school to take me out of the most restrictive environment but they wouldn’t so now I am home-schooled. 

I know people have a really hard time seeing who we are inside these bodies. I am very intelligent, but people don’t think so because my mouth says stupid stuff. I have zero control over my mouth. That’s the thing people don’t get: we have little - to no - control over our bodies. I can be thinking one thing and my body may do the exact opposite. I can’t tell you how upsetting that is. 

Anyway, since I learned how to talk by typing, my life is a billion times better. I have friends and fun. I am learning interesting stuff. I hope that the world catches up to what we already know: nonspeaking does not equal nonthinking.