Carly's Voice

Carly Fleischmann is a girl with autism. She is non-verbal, and didn't learn to communicate until the age of 10. Then, with the help of therapists, she learned to type on a computer, giving her a voice to communicate with the world. In finding her voice, Carly has helped give the world insight into the mind of a person living with autism. Though she is still unable to communicate verbally, in typing she has shown remarkably fluent, eloquent, introspective, empathetic communication. Her parents realized inside was an articulate, intelligent, emotive person that they had never met, and her writing helped them to understand why she does the things she does. Carly has co-written a book with her father called Carly's Voice.

Carly also has become the youngest person to speak on the panel at The Nantucket Project. While using her speech device, she took part in a panel discussion with moderator Tom Ashbrook, Autism Speak's Bob Wright, Marc Sirkin, her aide Howard Dalal and Senator John Kerry (Senator Kerry, who was scheduled to speak afterwards, joined Carly on stage at her request). You can watch the video at http://bigthink.com/collective-intelligence/autism-speaks.

Carly is now 17, and has an IQ of 130. Carly has ambitions to attend college (she has requested Senator Kerry write her a letter of recommendation for Yale), and become a journalist, maybe even the host of her own TV show. Technology has given Carly her voice, and has helped her to find her place in society.

http://carlysvoice.com/home/
http://www.facebook.com/carlysvoice