Discouraging Genuine Acceptance
Imagine a group of people who are devoted to making short people taller. The group claims specifically that short people who wear platform shoes have normal or even above-average heights. The group insists further that many short people are misunderstood. Once short people put on platform shoes, they reveal their hidden height. Accordingly, people who care about short people should encourage them to try platform shoes.
You might think that this argument is rather odd. Obviously, short people do not become tall just because they put on platform shoes; they just look taller. Besides, why is it so important to “cure” shortness anyway? Is being short so terrible that people should embrace a bogus technique just to make short people seem tall? It sure seems like it would be more helpful to just appreciate people for who they are, regardless of whether they are short or tall.
We believe that facilitated communication creates the same problem for persons with disabilities. Facilitated communication sometimes generates superficially inspirational stories about persons with disabilities who supposedly reveal, through FC, that they don’t actually have disabilities. These faulty feel-good stories are inadvertently prejudicial towards persons with disabilities. By celebrating persons for demonstrating for being surprisingly normative, they suggest that genuine disabilities are something to escape. Furthermore, promoting some individuals as having “hidden intelligence” likely makes individuals who don’t display hidden intelligence look disappointing by contrast. Finally, these stories likely discourage public support for legitimate methods that could help persons with disabilities and the people who care for them.
In her Lifelong Literacy blog, Lyn Stone describes how FC can create uncomfortable expectations about persons with genuine disabilities. Stone was saddened to realize that FC did not allow her child to reveal a different voice. Stone ultimately asks people not to “spray-paint” individuals with disabilities with wishful thinking. Instead, people can develop realistic assessments of persons with disabilities by paying attention to their respective histories and having a conversation with those who know them best.
We take a stand against FC because we believe FC promotes prejudicial beliefs towards individuals who have disabilities. We don’t need people to have hidden intelligence to be impressed by them. We celebrate their genuine achievements and the joy they bring to family, friends, and others.