For young adults like me a social life is very important.  Like a normal man my age I like to connect with friends and to go social gatherings. However since I communicate with AAC it is a little challenge for me to stay in touch with all my friends and associates. Even with technological advancements like speech generative devices and the Internet, I still struggle to constantly to keep the lines of communication open with those close to me.

As a person with a speech disability who uses AAC I think it comes with the territory that sometimes I feel like I am alone. Although I am rarely physically alone, I do feel, at times, excluded from those around me because of the challenge to communicate at that particular time. Sometimes I feel people do not understand the extra time I take to communicate.  I also use more energy to communicate which gets tiring after awhile. And communicating via Facebook and other social networking sites pales in comparison with interacting with real people.

Basically, I see my disability as a hindrance to my social standing with my family and friends. Communication is essentially the basis of how we engage in society and how we as humans stay connected to each other. It is a struggle for me to communicate because I have more of a challenge to build a relationship with other people. I think the most important thing a human does is to build strong loving relationships with God and other people. Since it’s more of a challenge for me to do that I realize how much of a gift it is to have these relationships.