#aac/tts user talk

[boyswillbedogz]

practicing my aac by voiceovering my speedpaints ^__^ thoughts under cut

this was actually extremely helpful. i probably wont do them where i use the aac in real time because im a slow typer and my videos usually have limited time, especially with the recent reformatting i did. but maybe when i get better.

u used to be quicker but i have more buttons now, which is nice but i also have shitty vision and coordination and memory, so augh.

usually my only real practice i get is calling my boyfriend or talking to my sister because my parents HATE acknowledging that they have a disabled kid and i have no established accomodations in school so i usually end up having to use my cards or a typed TTS there. so this was helpful. maybe ill use it in public eventually, especially as i find myself able to talk less and less with skill regression :,) plus this is easier on my stupid brain than mouth words anyway.

Anyway, i noticed i talk with aac a lot like how i speak in italian? as in, i know very basic sentence structure and a few scattered words so i just throw them into a sentence together and pray the point comes across, even if the words are slightly wrong. i would appreciate being told how easy it is to understand me.

i hate how this makes ppl assume im stupid, but its really just the limited words. either way its way less stress to worry about. I hope to get to a point where I don't have to type much, because ill have all the words i need the most (knowing what words i need is another thing that practice helps with)

emoji creators have been super helpful through this since i make my own boards. other aac users are also lovely.

anyway i use weavechat :P no more thoughts cause grammar is evil

K TELL ME IF U WABT MOOORE

[selectivechaos]

“i miss you”

aac users are in the room with you.

address us. don’t address other people.

don’t talk about us. don’t talk around us. don’t talk through us.

don’t say we’re not communicating when we are.

don’t laugh at us and pretend we’re not there.

one of the worst things someone has said to me is: “i miss you” as i was standing right there, using tts. and yeah there was other stuff going on; anxiety makes it hard to communicate and be present in the moment, so i get why they would miss my non-anxious self.

but really, it’s fucked up how they treat us like we’re not even there, when we are. even if not communicating, we exist. acknowledge us. 🌹🌹

[radiotransmissionaac]

Hello!

This is a personal sideblog.

I’m here to talk more about AAC, my experiences with neurodivergence (autism, mental illness), chronic illness and disability.

Am verbal but have been experiencing continuous episode of speech loss since start of June 2023. (For convenience start referring to self ‘nonverbal’ but understand acknowledge own experiences different from other nonverbal folks.)

Use Auslan (Australian Sign Language), hand made low tech AACs, and Cboard and TTS (text to speech) apps on my tablet (and sometimes phone.)

My language and typing ability is variable.

Mobility aid user (forearm crutches, manual wheelchair).

I tag #/pos for positive and #/neg for negative. #metro adventures is for public transport related posts. #talk back radio is answered asks.

I’d like to engage more and talk to people with similar and different experiences.

Have a good day! :)

(profile pic picrew link: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2058617 - by user ‘@elena-illustration.’)

[anothersssarchive]

hello, I am the host of our system and I experience loss of speech. If I start using an aac or tts, do you have any tips? And is it okay for ppl who aren't nonverbal but still have speech loss to use these devices full time?

hello hello.

this is Honey.

you should use an AAC/TTS. we've said it many times and will continue saying it.

you do not have to be fully verbal to AAC/TTS.

you can be semiverbal.

you can experience verbal loss sometimes. or often.

you can use an AAC if you think it's needed. it's a form of communication.

you can use it full time, or not it's up to you

our host is an almost full time aac user

i get vebral loss sometimes and i use AACs.

and that's ok for me to use AAC when i can't talk, or just don't feel like talking with my mouth parts.

you are valid

hope this helped

[moral-autism]

Does anyone know of good options in terms of Linux text-to-speech software for the temporarily nonverbal?

Desired features:

A voice that is readily comprehensible to humans, a gentle learning curve, and making it easy to switch from whatever I am doing to saying stuff. It would be nice if I could switch windows and play speech as soon as I type what I'm saying. I don't want to specify voice settings or write a long command each time I talk -- typing echo "stuff I'm saying" | festival --tts to speak is unacceptable.

Longer-shot features:

Some good system for saying each word as soon as I've written it, instead of making me queue a whole sentence, a female voice, and an understanding that acronyms in all-caps shouldn't be rapidly sounded out, even if they contain vowels: "AAC" does not rhyme with "hawk".

In practice the answer may be that I need to write a script that interacts with existing software, because the expected use-case for text-to-speech on Linux seems to be helping some program to talk, not helping the user to talk.

[dreamdropsystem]

nonverbal communication is valid communication

communication is not just talking with your mouth parts. as a system of AAC users, we feel guilty at times for not being able to be verbal all the time. some alters try to force themselves to be verbal, which causes shutdowns, meltdowns and burnout.

like everyone can use it but us. we need to get use to the idea every form of communicating is valid, for us and everyone else. nonverbal and verbal.

i use AACs at times, and i feel guilt for using them. i don't feel valid, that everyone else can use them but i shouldn't. i shouldn't think this way but our brain is so negative twoards us. TTS is valid communication. AACs are valid communication. nonvebral communication is valid communication. - HoneyLily + The Dreamdrop System

art credits - Drawn To AAC

[autisticdreamdrop]

this user uses AACs. an edit Shane made.

an AAC aka augmentative and alternative communication, are forms of nonverbal communication. this could mean writing your words down, using a digital AAC with buttons to talk for you, using a text to speech or TTS app, using a speech board, communication card and other thing. they're all valid forms of communication.

Shane uses AAC mainly to communicate. Shane deals with verbal loss and verbal shutdowns often, along with other alters. Shane is unreliably verbal, or semivebral. we have semiverbal and nonvebral alters in our systm. lots of alters in our system use AACs to communicate, in and out of our inner worlds.

you shouldn't have to pay to communicate, sadly a lot of us do

if you use AACs sometimes, often or always, there is nothing wrong with communicating this way.

nonverbal communication is valid communication - Shane

[dreamdropsystem]

this user uses AACs

an AAC aka augmentative and alternative communication, are forms of nonverbal communication. this could mean writing your words down, using a digital AAC app with buttons to talk for you, using a text to speech or TTS app, using a speech board, communication card and other thing. they're all valid forms of communication.

Shane uses AAC mainly to communicate. Shane deals with a lot lot lot lot of verbal loss, along with other alters. Shane is unreliably verbal, or semivebral / semi speakijg we have semiverbal / speaking and nonvebral / speaking alters in our systm. lots of alters in our system use AACs to communicate, in and out of our inner worlds. we are a bodily BIPOC system that uses AAC and it's oddly against us to use it. family, doctors etc. we just wanted to use what we need. when we're comfortable with.

you shouldn't have to pay to communicate, sadly a lot of us do

if you use AACs sometimes, often or always, there is nothing wrong with communicating this way.

nonverbal communication is valid communication -！！- Shane + The Dreamdrop System

art credits - Drawn To AAC