Professor Juan Bornman
Imagine this: one morning you wake up, open your eyes and when you try to stretch, you realize that you can’t move. You try to get attention, but no sound comes out of your mouth. You want so much attention and attention to your new body that you suddenly don’t want to move or speak – but how do you do that without a voice? How to express ideas, opinions and feelings without speaking? How to ask for help without words? How can you protect yourself and get others to stop their actions if you stay silent?
This is a reality that confronts approximately one million South Africans every day, who are part of the up to 2% of people with significant communication disabilities worldwide. For some people, the loss of speech is almost immediate: after a motor vehicle accident or a stroke. For some it happens gradually after the diagnosis of a degenerative disease such as motor neuron disease, Parkinson’s, or Alzheimer’s disease. Some never develop speech, such as children with cerebral palsy and some with autism. There are individuals who can speak a few words, but cannot rely on speech to meet all of their communication needs.
These are people who cannot use their speech to choose what they want to eat, or not. She has no say in what she wears or how her hair is done. The preferences of what to do and what activities to do are not taken into account. They are often invisible and silent members of our community. That is taken into account. They are those who belong to the “other” group and are not part of “our” group – not part of “us”. We tend to dehumanise people who look different, and who speak differently. We treat it like an object. No human being deserves it.
As we celebrate Human Rights Day, let us remember that communication is also a human right. Perhaps this is one of the most fundamental rights, because communication opens up all other rights: we need language and communication to learn, and we need education to find employment. We need communication to access basic health care and ensure social justice. We need communication to show that we are contributing members of society who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Communication makes us human. It guarantees belonging. It helps others to discover our personality. It shows our sense of humor. It is how we share our fears and feelings. Therefore, communication is not only central to the enjoyment of many human rights – it is also the medium through which we can exercise or assert our rights.
Not being able to speak doesn’t mean a person has nothing. As part of a speech group, a group that can rely on spoken language to meet its basic needs, we should be given the same human rights. how? Look for all signs of interaction, no matter how subtle or slight. Look for facial expressions that can show happiness, surprise, anger, sadness, fear and disgust. Examine body language and observe head nodding or shaking, pointing with hands or eyes. Treat everyone as a potential communicator and show that you are actively listening and expecting a reaction. It is not important how people communicate, but what matters is that they communicate.
Perhaps this is what Daniel Webster, one of the most famous US statesmen of the 1800s, meant when he famously said: “If all my possessions were taken from me but one, I would choose to keep my power of communication, because I would soon get it all back.”
Professor Juan Bornman works at the Center for Augmentative and Alternative Communication at the University of Pretoria. He is also the President of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication from 2021-2022.