#speech/mutism

[merm-aac]

PSA in steering away from “going nonverbal” and “nonverbal episode” please also know that “situational mutism” and “selective mutism” are not the correct terms either.

SM is an anxiety disorder separate from autism. it has its own set of diagnostic criteria. unless you have SM the anxiety disorder, “situational/selective mutism” is not the correct term.

the terms you are looking for would be verbal shutdown or speech loss.

[veryfairysyd]

No Spoons Only Knives by fairyfleshprison

Based on the text post by @something-existing-somewhere

Reminder! Art Comms Open Now :)

[liatai]

Question!

Neurodivergent peeps of Tumblr, I have a question.

I know that "nonverbal" or "selectively mute" are specific terms that mean "I cannot force words out no matter how hard I try," so... is there a term for "I can speak if I have to, but right now it requires extra energy?"

Like, I'm autistic. I have times where I can speak and even hold conversations, but stringing a verbal sentence together takes effort, the same kind of effort lifting a heavy load with your body would but in your mind. I can be perfectly eloquent and verbose in text when this happens, and sometimes I'll even make some of the limited signs I know in ASL without an issue, but speaking aloud uses up all my mental RAM and I can feel the metaphorical fans of my mind-computer whirring in overdrive. X3;

It's exhausting, too. Usually if I've been verbally social for a while, that's when it kicks in.

I can understand spoken words just as well as other times when this happens, as long as I don't have to speak to reply. If I have to speak, the mental effort and stamina needed to do it tends to push details aside in an endeavor to save processing power. ^^;

I know autism is a spectrum, and I'm hoping someone might have a name for this "not QUITE nonverbal but verbal words are VERY hard right now" feeling ^^; "Partially nonverbal" or "partially selectively mute" doesn't seem quite right.

Help?

[chrome-barkz-aac]

at my wits end googling “why has my autistic child stopped talking” and rifling through ableist bullshit to get maybe one small piece of information about my speech loss that i can’t find anywhere else (spoiler alert, i am finding nothing)

if ne 1 has resources for adults on the autism spectrum completely losing speech, i would really appreciate if you could send them to me :) /not forced. my speech loss has been going on for 2.5 weeks and this has never happened in my entire life.

[aw-tysm]

I still get so annoyed at how ignored those of us with Selective Mutism are. (The actual anxiety disorder that exists in the diagnostic manuals.)

All because some autistic people decided that it's a thing for them and then completely disregarded the actual disorder and changed the definition of what it entails. And a big portion of the community just started running with it.

I absolutely hate having Selective Mutism and would absolutely get rid of it if I could.

You don't have Selective Mutism just because you occasionally get tired and struggle to speak.

[pxppet]

Mutism/Nonspeaking Awareness Flag

I, like many others, suffer from mutism due to a physical disability. Every flag I've seen for the nonspeaking and nonverbal community is based in autism and related issues, without representation for those of us who are nonspeaking for reasons such as being a cancer survivor, schizophrenia, muscle tension dysphonia, spasmodic dysphonia, aphrasia, brain damage, etc. and related conditions. There are a large variety of conditions that I rarely see representation for, and this flag is for us.

The white stripes represents hope for a more accepting future for nonspeaking and mute people.

The purple stripes represents entirely nonspeaking people.

The blue stripes represents AAC and sign language users.

The green stripes represents people with fluctuating levels of verbality.

The yellow stripe represents community and the way we have each other's backs in this struggle.

The symbol is a vague representation of the lack of a voice. I couldn't decide which one looked better so feel free to use either.

[thecouncil-aac]

If anyone is willing and able to spare a few dollars, we're fundraising to buy the lifetime membership for Coughdrop AAC (one-time purchase of 295 $USD)

We're currently an unemployed student whose disabilities make it difficult to earn much income -> currently, most of our funds go towards medication, appointments, and food

We plan to host a livestream "donathon" in which we'll draw a little doodle for every person who donates during the livestream, but we don't know exactly when that'll be...

Please don't feel pressured to donate if you're not in a place to safely do so! Times are tough, and there's nothing wrong with prioritizing your health and well-being <3

If you can though, our Ko-fi is

[trainerethan]

Headcanons need not always be consistent or make sense. To me green from pokemon gives both gnc lesbian and also transmasc bi man at the same time depending on how the wind blows.

Red can be everything everywhere all at once but im partial to my gnc lesbian any pronouns red. Transfem red is very dear to me generally though.

I have a strong vision but i have like 3 of them and they sometimes only make sense to me. All that remains the same is they are in love and will be together foreva.

[eggy0lk00]

growing up disabled really feels like you’re the bad guy for … being a person ? lmao

[self-indulgent-devils]

Valentino with an extremely shy reader. Him just loving to tease and push your comforts all the time. He loves to see the way you get all flustered and blush, giving his big toothy grin as he feels so much power from controlling you. If you're a bigger demon (more height wise, but can be weight too, just closer to his size) then he will especially find it adorable how someone so large can be so shy and sweet.

People wouldn't expect Valentino to like shy people since he's surrounded by confident whores most of the time. But he secretly loves someone that is so shy. They're easier to take advantage of and easier to mess with. Plus he can control them far easier since they'll most likely rely on him.

If you're someone nonverbal or semiverbal or just deal with selective mutism, he will treasure every sound you may give off. He will love to hear what you have to say if you use AAC. (We are semiverbal and so haha big fantasy there ngl.) He'll just watch you with his smug little grin and wait to hear what you have to say. He doesn't mind being patient for someone so precious and trying their best.

You may not be what he typically surrounds himself with. Nothing like Summer or Dia or Angel Dust. Nothing like Vox or Velvette. Even if it makes you insecure, Valentino doesn't care. He'll enjoy every second of you. He likes you after all. And if anyone dared to make you cry or feel like shit because you're shy or semiverbal or scared of people or struggle in any way, Val would lose it. He would kill them on the spot unless he knew it would scare you. Then he'd just have his guards take them away for him to deal with later. He would stroke you just under your chin and speak a soft voice, reassuring you that you are perfect. And if you weren't perfect, he wouldn't be there paying attention to you right now. That he loves you the way you are. That you're a rare treasure. It's not often he meets someone like you in his line of work and so he's going to keep you close and treasure you like you're the most precious and rare gemstone he's ever laid eyes on. He doesn't care what anyone has to say about it and he won't tolerate anyone making you upset or cry. Only *he* can make you feel anything like that. Only *he* can make you feel insecure for his own entertainment. Because you're his and his alone.

He adores you the way you are. Valentino wouldn't want to see you change just because the world expects someone confident and talkative. Valentino doesn't want to see you change because you feel insecure being nothing like his employees or friends. It's you being this way that has caught his attention. To lose what makes you you would be a travesty to him. So he will make sure that you always look to him for love and acceptance and help. Because he wants you to know that he is the only one able to give it to you. He would spend all the money on you because a rare gem like yourself deserves it.

Valentino won't let anyone mock you or shame you for being shyer or easily flustered or even struggling to communicate. No. It's only him that's allowed to tease you about it just to see you get all embarrassed or upset. He loves your reactions to things after all.

And no matter your size, he would love to wrap his wings around you and hold you close against him. Feeling how warm you are and keeping you there like you're sharing a blanket. He rarely does it with anyone aside from Vox and he used to do it with Angel until Angel started pissing him off. So now you're the special one he does it with. It doesn't matter if you're way bigger than him in height or weight, he will still do it. Because you. are. his. And he gets to do with you what he wants. And in that moment, it is wrapping you in his wings. Especially if it makes you feel safer because *he* should be your only sense of safety.

(I have so many ideas omfg. I gotta write a fic of a scenario like this sooner.)

[astridellejo]

Wrestling With the Greased Pig of Speech/Voice Loss Terminology

Okay. So here's my understanding of the terminology:

Selective Mutism (Situational Mutism) This one seems to stem mostly from anxiety (maybe a little autism too). I don't experience that degree of anxiety often, but it has happened on rare occasions. Personally, I hate this term. It implies that not speaking is a conscious choice. I think situational is a more accurate word. "There are some situations in which my anxiety causes me to be unable to speak. This can be short term or long term. But it is by no means a deliberate, conscious decision on my part. It's more like my brain gets hyper-stimulated or something and just forgets how to make mouth noises."

Nonverbal This term appears to be specifically autism related mutism. I'm ADHD, not autistic, so I don't use this term for myself. And not being autistic, I can't really offer more information on the term.

Nonspeaking I guess this is an alternative to nonverbal that is less autism-specific. I guess. I don't actually know for sure. I'm not really sold on it, though, because kind of like "selective" mutism it kind of implies that a person can speak, but for whatever reason, chooses not to. Don't talk if you don't wanna talk. But I suppose people who are physically unable to talk might take umbrage with your conscious decision not to talk. I'm cool with it, though.

Dysphonia/Aphonia One means "messed up voice" and the other means "no voice at all". Aphonia is a neat word. Right up there with anhedonia. (Ahh, Greek!) I use the term spasmodic dysphonia because that's the official diagnosis I got from the ENT doctor. Apparently there's a more recent term laryngeal dystonia that seems to be preferred, but it doesn't seem to be taking root. So for now, I still have abductor spasmodic dysphonia that has rendered me aphonic. Whee!

Mute This word exists. I'm not sure if I like it, though. I don't have a good reason why I don't really vibe with it. Maybe it's because muting is something we can do to our television or computer or Zoom meeting, implying that it's reversible and temporary. Or maybe it's because in my ASL studies I've learned a little bit about deaf history and the connotations the word mute has.

There are other situations that can lead to loss of speech, like throat trauma, muscle tension dysphonia, aphasia, and probably a bunch more that I haven't even learned about yet.

Anyway, I don't know. I'm still sorting through my thoughts on the whole experience of the last seven months slowly losing my ability to speak with a functional voice. It's weird no longer being able to do a thing that I did effortlessly for over 40 years. I'm handling it reasonably well, I think. I do miss being able to sing and hum to my favorite music, though. That right there I would consider a genuine loss that I'm feeling.

[chrome-barkz-aac]

quite possibly the funniest result of my indefinite speech loss is that normally, i’m usually chattering to myself or vocal stimming or talking with my hallucinations, even if i don’t realize that i am. one of the phrases i say a lot is “this shit ain’t nothing to me man i’ll fucking kill you” . well. i can no longer say that. so instead the best i can do is very softly muttering under my breath: “kill.”

[awetistix]

AAC means augmentative and alternative communication!

articles about AAC :

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): An Introduction

What is No Tech AAC? (Unaided AAC)

What is Low Tech AAC?

What is Mid Tech and High Tech AAC?

[liongirlofficial]

there don't seem to be many people talking about it even here - does anyone else experience selective/situational mutism? are people just tending to wrap it up with autistic speech difficulty/loss, ""going nonverbal"" etc?

I've really been struggling with communication at uni. this has been a bottleneck in my functionality my whole life but I kind of assumed when I was younger that I would have somehow got over it by now.

it doesn't feel entirely accurate to call myself semiverbal/speaking because in many situations I CAN communicate verbally and my brain generally is very compatible with language. but sometimes that just doesn't matter and I'm just frozen staring like a deer in headlights. it even happens with my husband. it's really scary and feels like I'm behind a wall observing the world but unable to interact with it

I'm realizing I need better strategies for working with this, but I don't know what to do or what will help. I don't have friends or family who deal with it

[thecouncil-aac]

Hello, welcome to The Council's AAC-oriented sideblog! We're a plural system (main blog is @thecouncilofidiots) who uses plural they/it pronouns and are 21+

We are semi-verbal due to language/speaking skill regression caused by a (currently unknown) psychotic disorder. We have disjointed/disorganized speech/thoughts, as well as speech loss episodes. We are autistic, which influences our speech capabilities, but isn't significantly impactful. However, we do have selective mutism due to chronic anxiety (managed by anti-anxiety medication), and non-vox alters

We're working on learning/using AAC to help us communicate

AAC means augmentative and alternative communication, and is any method of communication that doesn't rely on spoken word

When we are experiencing disorganized/disjointed thoughts/speech due to psychosis, our typing often reflects it (for example "Council feel cold, think need get more blanket"). It's not a typing quirk, or something that we can translate, so please be patient with us

Important note : due to our conditions/disorders, we cannot add our own image IDs to our posts. However, we will happily reblog/add image IDs if others are willing make them; it is not apathy for accessibility, but rather, a case of incompatible disabilities

Feel free to join our AAC Community

Or the Discord server!

Meet the Support Team!

Trying save for Coughdrop Lifetime Membership

((BYI, we are explicitly 100% safe for systems of any/all origin, level of functionality/disorder, ect - plurality is an umbrella term and spectrum <3))

Explicitly Endo-Safe Emoji Blogs -> x

Vox Coining Post -> x

Symbol Collections :

Open Symbols -> x

AACIL -> x

Global Symbols -> x

Irasutoya -> x