Communication Device - Harmful or Helpful?
I have real mixed feelings about this. I am all for adaptive devices, particularly those that aid in communication. For teens and adults with autism, the ability to communicate is critical. And even the highest functioning person with autism has some trouble with the undercurrents of conversation. The subtle body language hints and eye signals that all of us take for granted in our communicative processes, usually escape the autistic mind.
At any rate, there is a device being developed that tells the wearer if there are annoying their listener or if the interest level has dropped. This bothers me for several reasons.
- A machine can never be trusted to be accurate with matters of human emotion.
- The person with autism wearing this device, is going to experience a great deal of stress every time he or she is alerting that the listener is “wandering off,” in a mental sense.
- People often stop listening in a conversation for many reasons other than those the speaker can control. Everyone has things on their mind - if the machine alerts a person with autism that he or she has become boring, but the listener is worrying about how to pay the power bill, the responsibility of that worry has then fallen on the person with autism.
I can see the point of this device and as I said, my feelings are mixed. I think, if it is used, it needs to be used with caution - my fear is that depending on a device for feedback on communication, may backfire, and in the long run, cause more harm than good.
Device Warns You If You’re Boring or Irritating
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1 opinion for Communication Device - Harmful or Helpful?
genevieve
Apr 8, 2006 at 1:20 pm
I couldn’t agree more, Adele. It would be much better used in education as the lecturer at the end of the article suggests, to tell when students are nodding off!
I’ve just about had enough of well-intentioned interventions in autism that patronise and control the person with autism.