Facilitated communication, Anna Stubblefield and disability studies

Abstract

This article discusses the case of Anna Stubblefield, a US disability studies scholar and Professor of Ethics at Rutgers University who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for sexually assaulting a disabled man. Stubblefield claimed that he consented, using facilitated communication. The article argues that facilitated communication is unscientific and unreliable, and that the support for Stubblefield from some disability studies scholars raises serious ethical concerns.