Facilitated Communication (FC)
As an advocacy group for people with intellectual disability, VALID’s primary concern is to empower people to assert their rights and to be free from all forms of manipulation, exploitation and abuse.
VALID is deeply concerned that despite consistent independent, empirical evidence against the use of ‘Facilitated Communication’, the practice still continues without appropriate safeguards.
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Some public criticism has recently been made of VALID’s decision to support a mother’s successful application for guardianship of her adult daughter, who has severe intellectual disability. We ask people to consider the wisdom and ethics of making or supporting public comments in respect of private matters, particularly without questioning the veracity of such comments. Contrary to the view that we had taken the side of the family rather than the person with a disability, we wish to make the following response: |
| VALID FC Position Statement
VALID regrets any distress this Position Statement might cause to those who have a belief in the use of Facilitated Communication. However, we believe we have a responsibility to publicly explain our concerns, and to ask that people examine the evidence – giving particular weight to the extensive body of independent and peer-reviewed research. |
| Summary of Research into
Facilitated Communication (Excel version) Includes links to documents
Positive Partnerships Fact Sheet 6 - Facilitated Communication and Autism |