Why privilege a single form of communication if there are many?

Abstract

In a time full of discourses of diversity and inclusion, our daily lives are shaped by social demands linked to standards of bodily integrity, competence, and independence. In this article, we analyze the emergent categories related to speech, language, and communication from critical perspectives to question the oppression of children with difference/disability. Analysis of parents’ narratives show how oppression is carried out by an ableist system that imposes regulatory standards for verbal language (VL) that must be met with the application of rehabilitation technologies, although they are not accessible to the children. Challenging this reality involves presenting families and professionals with narratives about different ways of being-in-the-world and communicating using the diverse semiotic repertoires that are part of life. This requires a practice based on ontological reflections to rethink our ideas about the meaning of being human, the relationships we build, and the worlds we can weave when we experience difference/ disability.