Rose Rimler

The non-speaking person sits in front of, you know, some kind of keyboard. Right. Next to them is a facilitator who gently holds their arm or their wrist and helps them select the letters on the keyboard that they want to select.

The non-speaking person sits in front of, you know, some kind of keyboard. Right. Next to them is a facilitator who gently holds their arm or their wrist and helps them select the letters on the keyboard that they want to select.

Not exactly. For some of these folks, they actually need someone to help guide their hands to the letters to use the keyboard, or they don't do it at all. Oh, okay. And so once this method started being used more and more, these incredible things started happening.

Not exactly. For some of these folks, they actually need someone to help guide their hands to the letters to use the keyboard, or they don't do it at all. Oh, okay. And so once this method started being used more and more, these incredible things started happening.

Yeah. And this, as you can imagine, that's a huge breakthrough, right? And it got a lot of attention. It was all over the news. It was on TV. There was a primetime live episode. It eventually won an Emmy. Diane Sawyer reported on this as like this breakthrough. And you can hear how powerful this seemed.

Yeah. And this, as you can imagine, that's a huge breakthrough, right? And it got a lot of attention. It was all over the news. It was on TV. There was a primetime live episode. It eventually won an Emmy. Diane Sawyer reported on this as like this breakthrough. And you can hear how powerful this seemed.

If only I could find a way to communicate. Yeah, your child has never spoken to you, has never said I love you. And now there's this thing that says there's a lot going on in their head and they can tell you about it.

If only I could find a way to communicate. Yeah, your child has never spoken to you, has never said I love you. And now there's this thing that says there's a lot going on in their head and they can tell you about it.

Yeah, that is a concern that people were actually people from the beginning. Some people did have that concern because you're holding someone's arm and potentially moving it for them, even if you don't think you are. So it could be that the facilitator is controlling what this person is typing.

Yeah, that is a concern that people were actually people from the beginning. Some people did have that concern because you're holding someone's arm and potentially moving it for them, even if you don't think you are. So it could be that the facilitator is controlling what this person is typing.

Exactly, that kind of thing. And there's always some skeptics out there. But for a while, because this is just so cool to people, they just kept chugging along. But then the cracks started to show in these very dramatic ways because in some cases, people were spelling out very disturbing messages. Some of their stories were told in a frontline documentary. It was called Prisoners of Silence.

Exactly, that kind of thing. And there's always some skeptics out there. But for a while, because this is just so cool to people, they just kept chugging along. But then the cracks started to show in these very dramatic ways because in some cases, people were spelling out very disturbing messages. Some of their stories were told in a frontline documentary. It was called Prisoners of Silence.

It came out in 1993. And here they are talking about a teenage girl with autism named Betsy.

It came out in 1993. And here they are talking about a teenage girl with autism named Betsy.

Social services were called. Betsy was taken out of her home, put in foster care. An investigation was started. But the people working this case were like, can we really trust these allegations? They came from this unusual technique. Someone else is holding Betsy's hand and helping her point out letters, type. So what they wanted to know was, who is writing the messages?

Social services were called. Betsy was taken out of her home, put in foster care. An investigation was started. But the people working this case were like, can we really trust these allegations? They came from this unusual technique. Someone else is holding Betsy's hand and helping her point out letters, type. So what they wanted to know was, who is writing the messages?

Is it the autistic person or is it the facilitator? So they set up tests. for Betsy and Katherine describe the kind of test that they did.

Is it the autistic person or is it the facilitator? So they set up tests. for Betsy and Katherine describe the kind of test that they did.

Kind of, with a key difference. They're showing two different pictures. They're showing one picture to the facilitator, so in this example, a picture of a shoe, and one picture to the person with autism, in this example, a hat.

Kind of, with a key difference. They're showing two different pictures. They're showing one picture to the facilitator, so in this example, a picture of a shoe, and one picture to the person with autism, in this example, a hat.