Life In Letters By Lia Assimakopoulos

Hear the unheard voices that resonate with magnitude. Life in Letters tells the stories of young, nonspeaking individuals living with autism. As the sister of a nonspeaking autistic, Lia Assimakopoulos witnessed her brother William struggle with the communication barrier, which stymied their sibling relationship for years. After endless research and experimentation, it was a simple, laminated alphabet letterboard that opened up a new world of dialogue for them. By spelling his thoughts out letter by letter, William was able to finally express himself. His breakthrough inspired Assimakopoulos to seek out the stories of others who also spell as their primary form of communication. Using the experiences of other nonspeakers, she debates some of autism’s most misunderstood yet important aspects, allowing the voices of each individual to shine through her writing. While autism presents various challenges each day, letterboards allow us to understand that autistics have a unique outlook on life and inspiring stories that deserve to be heard.

Graciela's Blog...

Graciela shared her review of chapters in Life in Letters – The Brain/Body Disconnect.

Here is her blog post:

Graciela’s reflections on the second chapter of Life in Letters.

The thing that I think is my most interesting thing to make the people that engage with me really work to understand is the trapped mind that is in my totally out-to-take-control body.

The thing that works against me the most is my speech. What is making the many wrong words tumble out of my mouth is what is often referred to as apraxia but it is easily mistaken for what most would refer to as speech. This means that words that I did not intend to say are often thought to be intentional. This is usually the toughest thing to have to explain to people about me. When the words I say are interpreted wrongly there are so many words I think to say but I have such a hard time getting them out.

It is helpful when people ignore my nonsense words and try to listen to my communicative intent. I want to talk to you and am trying to say this! Learning to see past the surface that is often saying the words that make no sense takes interest and patience. It is worth it though. Try not to overthink it and try to look past the surface.