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How 26 Letters and a Space Bar Can Change Your Life!

Writer's picture: Otto LanaOtto Lana

Access to communication is a basic human right, a starting point, a launch pad, a portal into an authentic life. This is a fact on which we can all agree. According to the non-profit Communication First (www.communicationfirst.org) there are over five million people in the United States with speech related disabilities, meaning they cannot rely on speech alone to be heard or understood. Unfortunately many of these folks are overlooked, underestimated and lack access and support to communication tools. It is no surprise this population is not accurately tracked by state or federal government agencies to assess for unmet needs and access and support to systems of communication. I, miraculously, no longer fall into this population, although for a decade I was entrenched in a world without functional communication, without the communication tools to share my authentic thoughts. The following is an essay on my personal evolution as a multi-modality communicator.


“Let My Typin’ Let You See” -- an original music video created with and starring non-speaking actors/multimodal communicators in the Express Yourself program

My name is Otto Lana. Before the age of ten, I did not have the tools to effectively share my name, the simplest identity anyone has is their name. My world was so small, so isolated, so insular without a robust system of communication. The only tool I had was a handful of small laminated cards, some with icons and others with actual photos, to communicate my wants and needs. These cards were given to me by the various therapists and educators in my life, the experts who decided my capacities and abilities based on preconceived notions, attitudes decided long before meeting me, regarding individuals with Autism who lacked oral fluency. Somewhere, someone decided oral fluency indicates intellectual capacity. I don’t know about you, but I have heard a lot of people say really stupid things. So I am not sure oral fluency is the best indicator of intelligence. I was given cards with picture icons of sweet or savory snack foods, a generic card for candy, and a card with a toilet. Anyone who knows me now, knows this set of communication tools was woefully lacking. I have a discerning palate and am a snack food snob. I prefer fresh baked cookies, salt and vinegar potato chips, and red starbursts are the only starbursts worth eating. Nobody knew these things because I had no way to tell them. If someone gave me a gummy bear in response to me presenting the candy card, I would just ignore the gummy bear. I hate gummy bears, they taste gross and they get stuck in your teeth. No one bothered to dig deeper. They just presumed I didn’t understand the concept of the candy card, they presumed I didn’t understand the concept of a token economy. They did not presume competence. 



I needed letters to create words and words to create a world to live my best life. After a decade of failed attempts at several different communication tools, I met a speech therapist who provided the simplest form of communication, twenty six letters, a space bar, and a few punctuation marks. No one else thought I was literate. She chose to presume competence. She gave me the ability to share my most intimate thoughts and to tell people my name. This past decade is a stark contrast from my first ten years. With just twenty six letters I have launched a lucrative public speaking and self-advocacy career, graduated from high school and gave the graduation address, started my freshman year in college, interned at several non-profits, but the thing I am probably most proud of is designing and selling my waterproof letterboard.


Communication happens everywhere and you have to be prepared. While my high tech assistive technology tools of my augmentative and alternative communication set up consisting of my iPad Pro, ProloQuo 4 Text, my laptop, my bluetooth keyboard and bluetooth speaker are really cool they are not practical for my active lifestyle. I prefer the outdoors to almost anything. I am never far from a body of water. I love my life and I love sharing how it unfolded, one letter at a time. I call myself a multi-modality communicator because I use several methods of communication. I type on a letterboard, I use AAC, I use gestures and a few basic signs. The people in my support network know and accept all these methods as modes of authentic communication. It is not the method that is important, it is the message.


Otto Lana is a poet, film maker, actor, lyricist, and self -advocate. He won the Harry Servidio Memorial Leadership Award for his work in advocacy and inclusion. He also won the first inaugural Heumann-Armstrong Award for Excellence in overcoming ableism in academia. He is an entrepreneur, designing and selling waterproof letterboards and apparel on his website www.ottosmottos.com


For more information on my moonshot I invite you to check my website www.ottosmottos.com 


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