This letter responds to the recent D.O. articles/editorial attacks on the Institute on Communication and Inclusion (ICI) and the work around Facilitated Communication (FC). We stand with the ICI in their decades of work to provide communication and inclusion for individuals so often at risk for marginalization. This civil and human rights work is in line with the mission of Syracuse University and the School of Education.

First, people who use FC typically include individuals who lack reliable pointing skills and who cannot speak or whose speech is extremely limited or disordered, thus many of these people are often “labeled” with intellectual disabilities. However, many individuals who once required significant physical support to communicate have demonstrated the ability to type with no or minimal physical support and/ or to read aloud what they type. This country has a horrific history of mistreatment and institutionalization of persons who are not able to communicate, thus we see that authentic communication, like FC, is a fundamental right.

Second, by never watching or learning from those who use FC, the D.O. reporters/editors provided no understanding of what FC is or how it works. We want to point out the countless children, families and communities that have forever benefited by working with the ICI and using FC. The articles ignored the young people who were initially labeled with intellectual disabilities (IQs below 70) who learned to type through FC, and went on to receive mostly A’s in college at places like SU.

Third, a number of studies, using multiple methodologies, have successfully demonstrated authorship and validity of typed communication through FC. Equally important is that the research of the ICI is held to the same best practice and research standards involving ethics of working with human subjects and the rigorous peer-reviewed process that all scholarly research goes through to get published.

Finally, the D.O. articles and other criticisms of FC are based on the foundation that people who type to communicate have been “scientifically” labeled as intellectually lesser and thus what they type cannot possibly be attributed to them.  We must recognize that this argument has a history that spans groups of people in the U.S., a history of “scientific” claims stating that immigrants are intellectually inferior, women are intellectually inferior, Blacks are intellectually inferior … these kinds of “scientific” claims built upon intellectual inferiority are offensive and wrong.

Signed,

George Theoharis, Professor & Chair,
Barbara Applebaum, Professor and Chair,
Thomas H. Bull, Director of Field Relations,
Julie Causton, Professor,
Kelly Chandler-Olcott, Professor,
Elisa Dekaney, Associate Professor,
Timothy Eatman, Associate Professor,
Cathy Engstrom, Associate Professor,
Gail Ensher, Professor,
Beth Ferri, Professor,
Michael Gill, Assistant Professor,
Marcelle Haddix, Dean’s Associate Professor and Chair,
Kathleen Hinchman, Professor,
Dawn Johnson, Associate Professor and Chair,
Eunjung Kim, Assistant Professor,
David Knapp, Assistant Professor,
Stephen Kuusisto, University Professor and Director of the Renée Crown University Honors Program,
Jeffery Mangram, Associate Professor,
Joanna Masingila, Dean School of Education,
Diane Lyden Murphy, Dean Falk College,
Beth Myers, Research Assistant Professor,
James Rolling, Professor,
Mara Sapon-Shevin, Professor,
Scott Shablak, Research Professor,
Joe Shedd, Associate Professor,
Corinne Smith, Professor,
Julia White, Assistant Professor,
Marion Wilson, Research Associate Professor

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this Letter to the Editor, the positions described in the headline were misstated. None of the letter signees are faculty members of the Institute on Communication and Inclusion. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on April 18, 2016 at 11:38 pm