Institute on Communication and Inclusion
Welcome!
For almost two decades the Institute on Communication and Inclusion has been giving a voice and a means to communicate to people with disabilities who may have otherwise been living in silence or isolation. The Institute on Communication and Inclusion (ICI) conducts research and promotes support for people with disabilities to communicate in schools and society. Formerly, the Facilitated Communication Institute, the new name, the Institute on Communication and Inclusion, represents a broadened focus developed over the past 20 years, reflecting lines of research, training and public dissemination that focus on school and community inclusion, narratives of disability and ability, and disability rights. Its initiatives stress the important relationship of communication to inclusion.
Response to ABC's 20/20 Story
On January 6, ABC’s 20/20 aired a story about a family in Michigan that had been torn apart by allegations that the father had sexually abused his daughter who has autism. The allegations purportedly came from the daughter herself while typing with the support of a facilitator, using facilitated communication. The show concluded that the police and district attorney in the case grossly violated accepted practices of investigation and victimized the father, the father’s son, and the family. The show also implied that facilitated communication is an invalid method for supporting communication and that the daughter in this family is certainly illiterate.
Unfortunately, ABCs 20/20 failed the most basic principles of fairness in its own reporting and presented a one sided view that does not accurately reflect the method, the research or the standards of best practice.
Click here for a full statement by the Institute on Communication and Inclusion in response to this story.
Join Us for the Saturday Series
The first Saturday Series of 2012 will be held on February 11 from 12:00-2:00 p.m. We will be doing a "meet and greet" activity! Visit our local events page more information.
Please RSVP by February 9, 2012 to Sheree Burke
ICI Practice Sessions
Open Hours are now available at the ICI for individuals to develop their supported typing skills. We have two new practice rooms with upgraded seating and new technology for individuals who use supported typing to practice with their facilitators. ICI training staff will be on hand to provide support and offer suggestions. We are currently offering these sessions free of charge. Please call Dani Weinstein at 315-443-9379 or email icistaff@syr.edu up to 24 hours in advance to reserve a time slot.
Hours: Contact Dani Weinstein at 315-443-9379 or email icistaff@syr.edu for appointments
Location: 370 Huntington Hall
Click here for flyer
Facilitators' Focus on Practice Sessions
The ICI is pleased to announce the return of the monthly Focus on Practice sessions designed to provide technical and social support to the growing number of facilitators working with assisted typers in the Syracuse area. Using a format of reflective discussion and video examples, these topic based conversations will help you develop your confidence as a facilitator and give you ideas to create better results for the people you support.
First Session: January 18, 2012
Hours/Location: Wednesday evenings from 5:30-7:30 at 370 Huntington Hall starting Jan. 18, 2012
Click here for flyer with all dates
Summer Institute
Click here for workshop and presentation materials from the 2011 Summer Institute
Watch
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"Here We Are World" - a new, short documentary featuring several individuals from around the United States who type to communicate. Click here for ordering information.
Learn
Engage
Led by Director Dean Doug Biklen and Research Director Christine Ashby, the Institute has distinguished itself as a national and international leader in FC and AAC training and research.
This has taken form not only in traditional scholarly publications and books, but also through other media such as film, including the Academy Award nominated short documentary Autism is a World, Wretches & Jabberers and Stories from the Road, and other nationally syndicated films. Autism Society Partners with “Wretches & Jabberers” to Commemorate National Autism Awareness Month in April 2011 with Nationwide Theatrical Releases.
The Institute on Communication and Inclusion receives financial support from private individuals and foundations, and is part of the Inclusion Institutes, housed in the Syracuse University School of Education. We are grateful for the key support provided by the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation and the John P. Hussman Foundation.