AAC Technology, Autism, and the Empathic Turn
van Grunsven and Roeser (2021)
Augmentative and Alternative Communication Technology [AAC Tech] is a relatively young, multidisciplinary field aimed at developing technologies for people who are unable to use their natural speaking voice due to congenital or acquired disability. In this paper, the authors look at the role of AAC Tech in promoting an ‘empathic turn’ in the perception of non- speaking autistic persons. Empathic turn means the turn towards recognising non-speaking Autistic people as persons with a way of engaging with the world and expression that are indicative of a psychologically rich and intrinsically meaningful experiential lives. The authors identify two ways in which AAC Tech contributes positively to this empathic turn. They outline how AAC tech can undermine genuine empathic communication between Autistic persons and neurotypical communicators. The authors suggest that AAC should be incorporate philosophical insights from Design for Emotions and enactive embodied cognitive science. Within the article the authors focus on stimming as an Autistic form of bodily expressivity that can play an important role in empathic communicative exchanges between Autistic persons and neurotypicals, with potential to facilitate in AAC Tech designed for Autistic people.
