#communication tools

Communication aids

for pins, notebooks, cards etc... for when you are having a nonverbal episode :3 or for Anyone!!!

(The images are not mine Google was my friend these are stock images!!!)

ID: Two pictures of thick tactile communication cards. The first shows all of the cards, a green one with an arrow that says Go, a red one with a stop sign that says Stop, a blue one with a glass that says Drink, an orange one with a plate of fish that says Eat, a black one with a checkered flag that says All Done, and a white one with apples that says More. The second image is of all the cards on a large ring. End ID.

As we're coming up on April Fool's, I've just realized that I don't think I've ever seen any sort of agreed upon symbol of "I don't want to be pranked"???

Which. Is really surprising to me, actually????

I tried to look it up, but all I found was "How to survive April Fool's without getting pranked!!" which basically just boils down to "isolate yourself/be paranoid for a day" which in and of itself is kind of participating in the holiday.

There's still a level of enjoyment to be had in overpreparing to avoid any and all pranks for a lot of people who don't actually have issues with it.

But there's a lot of people who do genuinely have issues of it and would like to be able to go about their day normally without worrying about it, including myself.

(Now, I would like to clarify that I'm not trying to demonize ppl who do want to participate or whatever. I just wish there was an easy way to communicate to them that I don't want to participate.)

So... I would like to propose wearing a yellow wristband or lanyard to say "I do not want to participate in this holiday".

That way, it also applies to other similar holidays that involve doing something to someone!

April Fool's Day: Please don't prank me

St. Patrick's Day: Please don't pinch me

Valentine's Day: Please don't confess to me/give me valentines

Christmas: Please don't give me gifts

I feel like I've seen people talk about being scared of some of these holidays for different reasons, but I haven't really seen any actual solutions for it besides "tell people around you" (which doesn't work for events where it could be anyone) and "be paranoid about it" which is just. Not an actual solution.

Plus, it would also work online! You could put a yellow emoji (such as 💛, 🟡, or 🟨) in your display name or bio. It could also be used as a symbol when expressing your boundaries for certain holidays, like so:

🟨April Fool's🟨: Please don't send me gore or jumpscares, but harmless April Fool's videos or memes are fine

(Though, not sending gore to people PERIOD is also just common fucking sense, but I digress)

it could be very useful for a lot if people, so i thought it’d be a good idea to share!!

Hi! We have a few alters in our system who are nonspeaking or who experience speech loss. Some of these alters are still struggling to express themselves, but we can share the tools we’ve been using to make it easier, and others we’ve heard about!

1) AAC

We use a combination of SoundingBoard and Visuals2Go, both downloaded from the iPhone AppStore! They’re free and easy to use, but they have a limited vocabulary. We’d suggest maybe getting some free apps for your headmates to try out, and keeping what works! If they like using AAC, it may be worth it to buy a paid app that has better options and a more user-friendly UI.

With AAC, you can string together words (with pictures) to form sentences, that your device will then speak aloud. No writing required, and reading isn’t essential for many of the available words and phrases! We’ve heard there is AAC that you can use to write and make posts as well, but we don’t know the name of any programs like this - sorry!

2) Communication Cards

We’re at work now or else I would include a picture of our communication cards. We have a bunch of index cards we’ve written words and statements on and grouped them together for easy access.

One group has common starter statements. “I want…” “Let’s go…” “Can I…” “Where is…” “How many…” “I can’t…” “I can…” “I don’t want…” and all sorts of little phrases. Another has verbs like “eat” “drink” “talk” “play” “sleep” “leave” “call” “walk” “sit” “stay” “look” and “go”. There is one with nouns, sorted by category (places, people, items, foods, weather, pronouns, and animals). And one with names of different alters, our POSIC hoarde, and our support team! It’s taken us a while to put it together, but we have one alter in particular who really benefits from using the cards to communicate.

3) Sign Language

None of our alters have learned any sign language, but if it sounds like it could help your headmates, perhaps your system could attempt learning some basic signs. This way you can help them sign to answer questions and express themself!

4) Drawing

If words and language in general is difficult, maybe getting them a little sketchpad or white board and encouraging them to draw out what they’re thinking may help! They don’t have to be great artists in order to express simple ideas, and this can allow them to connect with others even if both reading and writing are challenging.

5) Accessories

It may be a good idea to get some bracelets, rings, or other accessories that can express a few basic, essential ideas. We have three bracelets that we keep on us. The green one means “I’m happy and feeling comfortable!” the yellow means, “I’m okay but I’m a bit anxious and need some space.” and the red means “I am having a meltdown/doing poorly. I need to get somewhere calm and safe.” Maybe your system can get some sort of accessories and determine beforehand what sort of messages they convey. This way, your headmates will be able to express some basic or essential ideas quickly and effectively.

We hope that one of these options can help your headmates learn to communicate and express themselves better. Be sure to use ideas in your own way to make sure your accessibility tools will be useful for your headmates in particular! Thanks for reaching out, and take care!

Followers, if you have any ideas about communication tools or how to help alters/headmates express themselves, feel free to share!