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AAC & technology: What’s communication equity got to do with it? (Williams, 2024)

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Bob Williams

Bob Williams is the Policy Director of CommunicationFIRST, and has advanced the rights and opportunities of children, working age persons and older adults with disabilities for over 40 years by creating community living services, helping to pass the ADA, and administering the federally funded developmental disabilities and independent living networks.

Webcast Description

This presentation was first made at the Future of AAC Research Summit on May 13, 2024.

Please cite as

Williams, B. (2024, May 13). AAC & technology: What’s communication equity got to do with it?. [Conference session]. Future of AAC Research Summit, Arlington, VA. https://tinyurl.com/AAC-Williams-equity-2024

Video production by Rylie Mueller (Penn State University)

Additional Resources

Williams, B. (2025). AAC and technology: what’s communication equity got to do with it? Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2025.2504495

Williams, B. (2024). See us – Hear us. [YouTube video].

Williams, B. (2021). Spelling it out: The ADA and the right to community. [Blogpost]

Williams, B. (2023). Unjustly isolated, silenced, and deprived of literacy and freedom of expression… Remarks to the Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Education by CommunicationFIRST Policy Director Bob Williams.

Systemic social isolation of AAC users (Blasko, 2024)

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Grant Blasko

Grant Blasko is a young adult nonspeaking autistic student and part of the Summit’s Organizing Committee. He is a University of Washington DO-IT Scholar, an active member of TASH’s National Communication Access Workgroup, and a CommunicationFIRST Advisory Council member. He has served as a stakeholder on panels guiding autism professionals at the American Occupational Therapy Association, CAST, and the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR).

Webcast Description

This presentation was first made at the Future of AAC Research Summit on May 13, 2024.

Please cite as
Blasko, G. (2024, May 13). Systemic social isolation of AAC users. [Conference session]. Future of AAC Research Summit, Arlington, VA. https://tinyurl.com/AAC-Blasko-2024

Video production by Rylie Mueller (Penn State University)

Additional Resources

Blasko, G. (2025). Unveiling underlying systemic isolation challenges for AAC users. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2025.2515279

Blasko, G. (2022). Thoughts from an Autistic AAC User After the April 2022 Meeting of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. https://communicationfirst.org/thoughts-from-an-autistic-aac-user-after-the-april-2022-meeting-of-the-interagency-autism-coordinating-committee/

Blasko, G. (2022). Autism Acceptance … of Communication Stress? https://communicationfirst.org/autism-acceptance–of-communication-stress/

Future of AAC Technologies: Priorities for inclusive research and implementation (Williams & Holyfield, 2024)

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Kevin Williams and Christine Holyfield

Webcast Description

This presentation was first made at the Future of AAC Research Summit on May 13, 2024.

Please cite as
Williams, K. & Holyfield, C. (2024, May 13). Future of AAC Technologies: Priorities for inclusive research and implementation. [Conference session]. Future of AAC Research Summit, Arlington, VA. https://tinyurl.com/AAC-Williams-future-2024

Video production by Rylie Mueller (Penn State University)

Additional Resources

The First Word in Accessibility is ACCESS  (Regan, 2024)

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by Patrick Regan  

 

Patrick Regan

Patrick Regan has been an AAC user for more than 27 years.  He experiences Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2, and he received his first speech-generating device a few months after his second birthday.  Patrick is USSAAC’s President Elect. He is also a member of ISAAC’s LEAD committee. He is employed as a Media Tech Coordinator, and a Senior Media Tech for St. John United Methodist Church in Anchorage, Alaska.  And he serves as the Coordinator of Activities and Events, and Co-President for Bridging Communities Through Alternative Communication (“BCTAC”), an adult outreach program of The Bridge School, in Hillsborough, California.

Webcast Description

Patrick describes his experiences in acquiring and using AAC technology. This presentation was first made at the Future of AAC Research Summit on May 14, 2024.

Cite as

Regan, P. (2024, May 14). The first word in accessibility is ACCESS [Conference session]. Future of AAC Research Summit, Arlington, VA. https://tinyurl.com/AAC-Regan-2024

(Transcript as pdf)

Video production by Patrick Regan

Additional Resources

Regan, P. (2023, June 6). Introducing Speak Up! and AACT. 

 

Supporting individuals who need AAC in learning language & literacy (Holyfield et al, 2024)

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Presentation Team

Christine Holyfield, Janice Light, David McNaughton, Dana Nieder, and Jamie Preece

Webcast Description

This presentation was first made at the Future of AAC Research Summit on May 14, 2024.

Cite as
Holyfield, C., Light, J., McNaughton, D., Nieder, D., & Preece, J. (2024, May 14). Supporting individuals who need AAC in learning language & literacy: State of the science, emerging technologies, and future research directions [Conference session]. Future of AAC Research Summit, Arlington, VA. https://tinyurl.com/AAC-Holyfield-et-al-2024

(Transcript as pdf)

Video production by Rebecca Wood (Penn State University)

Additional Resources

Light, J., Barwise, A., Gardner, A. M., & Flynn, M. (2021). Personalized early AAC intervention to build language and literacy skills: A case study of a 3-year-old with complex communication needs. Topics in Language Disorders, 41(3), 209-231.

Patenaude, D., McNaughton, D., & Liang, Z. (2024). Using visual scene displays with young children: An evidence-based practice synthesis. Journal of Special Education Technology, Early on-line.

The contents of this website are a joint offering of Penn State University and the RERC on AAC. They were developed, in part, under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90REGE0014) to the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (RERC on AAC). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this website do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.