Rosemary Crossley

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Rosemary Crossley AM (born 1945) is an Australian author and advocate for disability rights and facilitated communication, a technique in which a disabled person with difficulty communicating is encouraged to spell out messages with a keyboard or letter board, while their hand is held and helped to move by a facilitator.

Crossley is a controversial figure in the field of autism and disabilities. She has been praised and respected by some, and in her native Australia she is director of the Anne McDonald Centre near Melbourne for people with little or no functional speech. In 1984, the film Annie's Coming Out was made about her work with her first student, Anne McDonald.[1][2] However, facilitated communication has also been considered a pseudoscience by psychologists and governments, labelling it as ineffective or actively harmful.[3][4][5][6] In particular, it has often failed controlled tests where the facilitator, supposed to aid the autistic person to communicate, is not aware what the answer should be, leading experts to suggest that the facilitator is directing the movement of the disabled person to the answer they expect to see.[7][8][9]

Authorship and advocacy

The Anne McDonald Centre, a centre for FC use in Melbourne directed by Crossley.

Rosemary Crossley is the co-author, with the late Anne McDonald, of Annie's Coming Out,[10] the story of Anne's breakthrough to communication and her release from a large Australian care home for children and adults with severe disabilities. Anne's story went on to be made into an award-winning film titled Annie's Coming Out (also called A Test Of Love) in 1984 starring Angela Punch McGregor and directed by Gil Brealey, the screenplay for which was written by Rosemary's partner, Chris Borthwick, with both Rosemary and Anne as contributing writers. The film won Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Annie's Coming Out tells the story of how Rosemary Crossley developed the form of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) now known as facilitated communication or (as Crossley herself prefers) facilitated communication training. Facilitated communication training is today widely used by people with a variety of communication handicaps. Widespread controversy has continued to accompany its use in the autistic population.[11] While a number of peer reviewed scientific studies have concluded that the language output attributed to the clients is directed or systematically determined by the therapists who provide facilitated assistance.[12]

Rosemary Crossley went on to establish DEAL (Dignity, Education, Advocacy, Language) Communication Centre,[13] training a wide range of functionally non-verbal people in the use of communication techniques with family, friends and carers. She was the inspiration for facilitated communication in the US which was begun by Douglas Biklen of Syracuse University, Division of Special Education and Rehabilitation, who visited her in Australia. Academic research and development (in inclusion, community integration and communication) conducted at the university with doctoral students were reported early in the disability literature [14] with very impressive developments in the field of autism and speech.[15]

She later wrote Speechless: Facilitating Communication for People Without Voices[16] about the experiences of several people who first acquired communication through this technique. She was the Keynote Conference Speaker at the International Association of Severe Disabilities in 1990, having assisted over 600 people with communication many for the very first time in Australia.[17]

Rosemary Crossley has a PhD from Victoria University, Australia and is a Member of the Order of Australia (AM)[18]

Controversy

There is considerable controversy over facilitated communication, both as a method, and as it was used with Anne McDonald. While facilitators claim it gives voice to disabled persons, it has been debunked by numerous scientific studies, and others have questioned whether McDonald was actually communicating through Crossley.[19][20][9] However, some people using FC have transitioned to typing without support, or at least with minimal support such as a hand on the upper arm.[8][2]

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Auerbach, David,"Facilitated Communication is a Cult that Won't Die", (article), "Slate.com", 12 November 2012
  10. ↑ Annie's Coming Out www.amazon.co.uk
  11. ↑ Biklen, Douglas. (2005). "Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone". New York, New York: University Press.
  12. ↑ http://www.theeway.com/skepticc/archives15.html#results FACILITATED COMMUNICATION: MENTAL MIRACLE OR SLEIGHT OF HAND? (1994) By Gina Green, Ph.D.
  13. ↑ DEAL (Dignity, Education, Advocacy, Language) Communication Centre www.deal.org.au
  14. ↑ Biklen, D., Morton, M.W., Saha, S.N., Duncan, J., Gold, D., Hardardottir, M., Karna, E., O'Connor, S., & Rao, S. (1991). "I amn not a utistivc on thje typ" (I/m not Autistic on the Typewriter"). "Disability, Handicap and Society", 6(3): 161-180.
  15. ↑ Biklen, D., Morton, M.W., Gold, D., Berrigan, C. & Swaminathan, S. (1992). Facilitated communication: Implications for individuals with autism. "Topics in Language Disorders", 12(4): 1-28.
  16. ↑ Speechless: Facilitating Communication for People Without Voices www.amazon.com
  17. ↑ ...(1990, August). Keynote Speaker Spotlight: Rosemary Crossley. "TASH Newsletter", 3.
  18. ↑ http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=880689&search_type=quick&showInd=true Australian Honours, 1986 citation "in recognition of service to those with severe communication disabilities"
  19. ↑ Rule, Andrew, "More Doubts Over Disability Miracle" (article). "Morning Herald", 18 May 2012
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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