Looking for non or minimally verbal conference speakers

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Then the OP should say so.  Has he?

They should have asked for"nonspeaking" rather than nonverbal if that were the case. Nonverbal means no words (speaking or written). Nonspeaking means no speaking (but could refer to someone who writes).

Yes.  Thank you.

i'm going to guess they meant nonspeaking based on context though

The OP hasnt returned -either to thread- or to the site.

Might have been a troll.

But most likely he is just some kid who cant explain stuff even in his native Danish.

He should have been aware that what he was asking for SOUNDS like a contradiction in terms to most folks even if it isnt really.

I can imagine someone getting on lectern and typing a keyboard that translates his words into an electronic voice like that used by Stephen Hawkings ...to address a crowd. But I dont know for sure that thats what he means. It would have been nice if he had explained what he meant.

Suggestion: some people are too literal minded.

These people wouldn’t want Hellen Keller as a speaker.

Lighten up people.

That's more or less my thought. When I'm having a moment of no speech to communicate with, I do have other things that I can fall back on. I wouldn't necessarily assume that a talk by somebody that can't speak would be that different from on by somebody that reads the contents of their PowerPoint.
I'm sure there's other possibilities as well

Yes, although this is an ASD heavy forum and if we're being asked to refer somebody, a bit more would be helpful as there are degrees here from communicating, just not by speaking to can sort of speak with great difficulty to issues with any form of communication.

● autism-all-stars.org - Autistic Literal Thinking

“Dyslexic people always ask ‘Why can’t words just be spelled the way they sound?’ while autistic people ask ‘Why can’t people just say what they mean?’ It’s one of the main reasons people on the spectrum struggle so much with social situations, but with a little understanding and patience, it’s easily resolved. The best way to deal with this is to remember that autistic people don’t automatically understand what’s implied, only what’s actually said.

Why? Well it all comes down to brain wiring.

All brains collect information from their environment and process it the best way they can in order to make sense of the world around them. The way a brain usually works is to create a filing system that groups similar objects and instructions together so it can respond to them in roughly the same way whenever it encounters them in the future.
For example: Four legs + fur + teeth + waggy tail = Dog. Once it’s been identified, anything representing a dog (a picture, sculpture, toy etc.) will be filed in the same group, making it easier to react to dogs in an appropriate way in the future.
Autistic brains, however, don’t automatically group these things together, and instead they initially file everything as a separate piece of information with no apparent similarity to anything else. At the same time, autistic people can also have an incredible ability to pattern match and can very often spot patterns in things that neurotypical people overlook, it’s just that when it comes to something being missing in an instruction or statement (in other words ‘implied’), and they therefore have to make the connections using only the information provided, things can sometimes go off track.
This results in two distinct character traits in autistic people when they’re young: either they appear to have no sense of danger whatsoever (because they can’t predict what might happen if they run across a road, for instance) or they have greatly heightened anxiety for the very same reason.”

Back to the OP, where and when is this conference, and how long is the speech?

You may have answered this somewhere but I've yet to see it.

I'd be happy to write something about what it's like to have SM but I'm not travelling anywhere or speaking in person.

Thank you very much, Ill look them up

I realize the topic confuses some people.

English is not my native language. I switched to the word "presenter" in my following post in stead of "speaker".

To me speaking could be with a million different methods, including signing, but Im not sure at all what would be gramatically correct.

Im simply interested in the perspective of someone who is minimally or non-verbal. Please respond with kindness.

I realize some people thought I was trolling.

I am not.

I saw Alex post here - and I actually arranged for Alex (and Stephen Shore) to come speak at a conference of mine some years back.
He can vouch that Im genuine


My name is Felix, and I used to organise the first autism conference for autistic people, by autistic people - here in my native country.

If anyone has a suggestion for wording, I would love to learn and replace the original title.

Thank you.

Last edited by Rulefar on 20 Jun 2023, 12:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I did, but it got buried.

45 minutes presentation, perhaps twice if the presenter is interested.

Location is Denmark and its next year, 2024.

I'm the (overly) trusting ASD type and it sounds like a wonderful opportunity. There are a few non- or less- verbal folks on this board but I do not know them personally.

Tangent: At best I have average verbal expression (which is a disability relative to my high non-verbal IQ) and at past workplace folks "translated" for me. By this I mean that I often blurt out concepts and I had two co-workers who would then provide the context. At my new workplace I don't have co-workers with shared context, so I often close my eyes to slow down and try to provide context, or get my thoughts in order. I'm not very good at it. I had an Autistic co-worker and even he would ask me to clarify. Overall he spoke less than I did, but he was better at ordering his thoughts and providing context. I am the "H" in my ADHD. I had a "pet" (wild but friendly) squirrel as a child. My ASD daughter did also. (Meaning I might be talking to her and she'll blurt out "squirrel" and take off in mid-sentence; it's real folks. )

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