Communication 4 ALL

05/30/2026

Aiden and Elizabeth just released their All Together Now 2026 special on SiriusXM's The Beatles Channel!

And, in even better news, if you've let your SiriusXM subscription expire, you can listen for FREE in your car from now until Monday!

The SiriusXM Listen Free Event is happening now through June 1! Listen to SiriusXM free in your car—100+ channels of music, sports, & talk, including The Beatles Channel (Ch. 18) where you can hear The Fab Four 24 hours a day, 8 days a week.

Learn more at: https://www.siriusxm.com/TheBeatlesLF

Happy weekend listening! 🎶🚗🎵

05/28/2026

ABC News is amplifying our voices! ABC News shared Abby’s story and the fight to get the Communication Bill of Rights passed by the NY Senate.
https://www.news10.com/news/local-news/new-bill-could-protect-preferred-communication-for-disabled-new-yorkers/amp/

A new bill passed by the State Assembly last year could guarantee that no person will be denied their preferred method of communication.

05/27/2026

Thank you for sharing our mission with the world! Communication 4 ALL!

Elizabeth Bonker stopped speaking when she was 15 months old.

Within hours, her words were gone. Her mother Virginia described watching it happen in real time — her daughter’s voice simply disappeared.

Doctors didn’t offer much hope. But her family refused to give up. At age five, Elizabeth was taught to type. And when she typed her first words, something extraordinary became clear.

She had never stopped having something to say. She just hadn’t been given a way to say it.

Elizabeth went on to graduate as valedictorian of Rollins College in Florida. She delivered her commencement address to thousands of people — not with her voice, but through text-to-speech software. The speech went viral.

“I am not special,” she said. “We need to change the way the world sees non-speaking autism. It is a neuromotor disorder, not a cognitive one.”

She founded Communication 4 ALL — a nonprofit built on one principle: that communication is a basic human right. 26 letters. A stencil. An internet connection. That’s all it takes to unlock a mind that the world wrote off.

An estimated 31 million people worldwide are non-speaking and autistic. Most have never been taught to type, point to a board, or use an AAC device. Not because it’s impossible. Because nobody gave them the chance.

Elizabeth is trying to change that — one letter at a time.

Source: Communication 4 ALL / Newsweek / Rollins College

05/20/2026

🗣️ Last week, nonspeakers Abby and Alex were featured on NBC News. Abby is a 14-year-old minimally speaking typer who has plans to go to college. Alex is a nonspeaking typer in his second year of college studying mathematics.

📣 Both are strong advocates for communication rights in New York and across the US. They are fighting for the Communication Bill of Rights to be passed in the NY State Senate.

Support Abby, Alex, and all nonspeakers by:

1️⃣ Sending a message to NY Senate leadership and the Disabilities Committee asking them to intervene by introducing the correct Communication Bill of Rights, which matches Assembly Bill A7363C: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/ny-state-senate-introduce-a-new-communication-bill-of-rights-like-assembly-bill-a7363c?source=direct_link&

2️⃣ Help keep Abby’s billboard up in Albany for the rest of the legislative session. We are less than $1000 away from our goal! https://www.gofundme.com/f/billboard-for-nonspeakers-right-to-communicate

3️⃣ SHARE THEIR STORIES. Tell everyone about what Abby, Alex and others are fighting for, and how important it is to ensure their rights!

VD: News on "Fight over nonspeakers' right to communicate." At Mouth to Hand Learning Center with her family, Abby spells “mommy,” “No, it’s my first,” “My mom,” and “It was the best feeling” on a letter board. Patricia Fahy speaks with “validated communication” overlaid. Headline reads “Helen Keller’s family members irate over changes to communication bill of rights proposal.” Diane Paul speaks to reporter over video. Alex types on a keyboard "It is torture," then "To be able to talk is a basic human right." Abby, Andrea, Alex and Judy walk hand-in-hand. Anchors report on “Helen Keller Family Statement: [Helen] did not arrive at communication independently… It was through her partnership-guided facilitated learning that Helen first broke through isolation and accessed language.”

05/18/2026

Abby is a 14-year-old minimally-speaking typer who has plans to go to college.

Abby is not alone: there are tens of thousands of nonspeakers and minimal speakers like her just in New York State, and hundreds of thousands in the United States, and millions around the world; thinking, feeling people who need access to communication methods that work for them.

Abby is also one of the most badass advocates for communication rights we know. So badass, in fact, that she's now on a billboard calling out Senator Fahy in her own district for compromising the Communication Bill of Rights and continuing to ignore spellers and typers.

🤲 Here are 2 ways you can support Abby and all nonspeakers in New York right now:

1️⃣ Tell NY Senate leadership and the Disabilities Committee to intervene by introducing the correct Communication Bill of Rights that matches Assembly Bill A7363C: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/ny-state-senate-introduce-a-new-communication-bill-of-rights-like-assembly-bill-a7363c?source=direct_link&

2️⃣ Donate to our GoFundMe to keep Abby's billboard up for the rest of the legislative session. We are only about $1,520 away from our goal! https://www.gofundme.com/f/billboard-for-nonspeakers-right-to-communicate

🙏 Thank you to everyone who has contacted the NY Senate, donated, or shared already.

Video description: "Abby's Story" is on top and an NBC News banner that reads "FIGHT OVER NONSPEAKERS' RIGHT TO COMMUNICATE" is on the bottom, with open captions. Abby and her mother Andrea talk with a news reporter as b-roll of Abby typing on an iPad, as a child, and typing "mommy" on a laminated letterboard are shown.

05/17/2026

Our Executive Director Elizabeth wrote an op-ed with Marisa McClinton about how care workers understand the importance of accessible, effective communication, and what this means for New York's Communication Bill of Rights.

In short, communication access makes both nonspeakers' and care workers' lives and jobs safer.

🔗 Read the full piece in Empire Report here: https://empirereportnewyork.com/communication-is-a-civil-right-and-workers-know-it-too

05/16/2026

🔠 Communication Is a Human Right — Help Us Be Seen!

We need about $2,250 more to keep up a high-visibility digital billboard in Fahy’s district for the rest of the legislative session, demanding she reverse her toxic amendments.

🙏 Please donate here, if you are able: https://www.gofundme.com/f/billboard-for-nonspeakers-right-to-communicate

Last year, New York’s Assembly unanimously passed a bill protecting the right of nonspeaking people to communicate. Bipartisan. Common sense. Basic human dignity. Then Patricia Fahy, Chair of the Disability Committee in the Senate, gutted it.

Based on pressure from special interests, The Chair of the Disability Committee added two words — “autonomous” and “validated” — undermining her own bill and putting thousands of nonspeaking people at risk of losing their only reliable way to communicate.

Enough is enough.

As Disability Chair, Fahy is accountable. Instead of protecting vulnerable people, she sided with special interests and weakened a civil rights bill that had unanimous support. We are calling on her to reverse her harmful amendments and restore the original bill.

Every dollar goes directly to the billboard: Six weeks, prime Capitol location, maximum visibility.

If you believe everyone deserves to communicate any way they can and no politician should be able to take that human right away — act now! Donate any amount you can, even $10. Donate more if you can, and please share with your family and friends.

WE NEED TO TELL THE WORLD ABOUT HOW THE CHAIR OF THE DISABILITY COMMITTEE HAS BETRAYED DISABLED PEOPLE AND REMIND LAWMAKERS THAT YOU DON’T MESS WITH AUTISM FAMILIES — WE NEVER GIVE UP.

Because once a nonspeaker can communicate, taking that right away is illegal and immoral.

With gratitude,
Elizabeth Bonker, nonspeaker & typer
Executive Director
Communication 4 ALL

05/15/2026

Our friends Alex and Judy from Mouth to Hand Learning Center were recently featured on NBC News!

Alex says "IT IS TORTURE" to not be able to communicate. Thankfully, Alex learned to type to communicate at the age of 25, and is now majoring in math in college. (It's never too late!)

In Alex's words, "TO BE ABLE TO TALK IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT." We couldn't agree more, Alex.

But unfortunately, the human right to communication is under threat in Alex's home state of New York. NY State Senator Fahy wants to make more amendments that weaken and reverse the Communication Bill of Rights even more than her last ones.

❗️ We need to urge Senate Leadership and the rest of the Disabilities Committee to make RIGHT the Communication Bill of Rights. (Really, how do you mess something like this up?!?)

There's absolutely no excuse. The correct version of the Communication Bill of Rights passed unanimously in the NY Assembly last June. It's time for the Senate to get on board (pun intended)! 🔠

🔗 This contact form we've prepared will send your message to everyone needed: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/ny-state-senate-introduce-a-new-communication-bill-of-rights-like-assembly-bill-a7363c

ℹ️ Even though we are providing you with the essentials, please take a few moments to personalize your message before sending. It will be so much more powerful that way!

🌎 You can take action on this no matter where in the world you live.

🙌 Let's show up together for communication rights AGAIN!

Video description: Alex and Judy type and talk with a news reporter as text "Alex's Story" appears on the top, an NBC News banner on the bottom reads "Fight over nonspeakers' right to communicate." Alex types on a wireless keyboard that Judy holds as his communication partner "It is torture" in response to the reporter's question. Alex then types "To be able to talk is a basic human right," while sped-up footage of him typing is shown on the left. Open captions appear on the bottom.