The Institute on Communication and Inclusion (ICI) at the Syracuse University School of Education will host its annual summer institute at the Sheraton Syracuse University from July 28-30, 2014. This year’s theme, Envisioning the Future: Writing an New Disability Narrative, boasts a particular focus on the lived experiences and artistic endeavors of individuals who use supported typing, a form of facilitated communication (FC) to communicate, and their families, friends and allies.
Each year, the ICI Summer Institute provides opportunities for attendees to meet, type, talk, discuss, and learn with other FC users, families, educators, and professionals from across the country and around the world, by participating in workshops, sessions, and panels from a wide range of FC users and practitioners. Over 250 individuals, including 75 who type to communicate, are expected to attend this year’s event.
The conference will feature range of national and international presenters and exciting events. Keynote presentations will be given by:
- Naoki Higashida: The author of the New York Times Best Selling memoir, The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism( Random House, 2013),and featured in the documentary film “Wretches & Jabberers” (2010).
- Lydia Brown: An activist, scholar, and Georgetown University student named a Champion of Change for the Americans with Disabilities Act by the White House. Lydia blogs at AutisticHoya.com
- Stephen Kuusisto, Syracuse University professor, poet, and author of Only Bread, Only Light (Copper Canyon Press, 2010) and Planet of the Blind (Delta, 1998).
Breakout sessions will be presented by panels of FC users from around the country, family members, facilitators, K-12 and university educators, and researchers. The conference will also offer workshops on memoir writing, narrative, poetry writing, rhythmic movement, adapted physical fitness, communication in schools, developing speech, artistic expression, and skill building training sessions for FC users and their support teams.
For 20 years, 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 conducts research and promotes support for people with disabilities to communicate in schools and society. Formerly known as the Facilitated Communication Institute, the Institute on Communication and Inclusion represents a broadened focus 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.