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STUDENT WITH NONSPEAKING AUTISM URGES FELLOW GRADUATES TO 'USE YOUR VOICE' IN POWERFUL SPEECH

A non-verbal autistic student delivered an inspiring speech at the Rollins College commencement ceremony recently using a text-to-speech computer program.

Elizabeth Bonker is affected by nonspeaking autism, so she communicates by typing. She used a computer program to deliver her address at Rollins' graduation ceremony in Florida on May 8, urging her fellow graduates to remember that "Life is for service."

Bonker, who received a degree in social innovation, told her graduating class of 529 students "No, the irony of a nonspeaking autistic encouraging you to use your voice is not lost on me. Because if you can see the worth in me, then you can see the worth in everyone you meet."

In her speech, Bonker thanked her four fellow valedictorians, who unanimously elected Bonker to deliver the commencement speech and those at Rollins, including the “faculty, administrators, and staff who fed our brains and nurtured our souls.”

She also acknowledged the approximately 31 million nonspeaking autistic people worldwide. According to Autism Speaks, an estimated 40% of autistic people are nonspeaking,

“I have typed this speech with one finger with a communication partner holding a keyboard,” Bonker said in her speech. “I am one of the lucky few nonspeaking autistics who have been taught to type. That one critical intervention unlocked my mind from its silent cage, enabling me to communicate and to be educated like my hero Helen Keller.”

Bonker, who has been advocating for the rights of autistic individuals since the age of 13, is also the founder and executive director of Communication 4 ALL, a nonprofit

that aims to ensure that communication is available to all people with autism who are nonspeaking, particularly in educational settings.

COMMUNICATION FOR ALL: "My life will be dedicated to relieving the 31 million nonspeakers from suffering in silence and to giving them voices to choose their own way."

BE THE LIGHT: Watch Elizabeth Bonker's 2022 Rollins College commencement address: youtube.com/watch?v=8g5aJExZQwg&t=5s

"My life mission is dedicated to gaining communication for all 31 million nonspeakers with autism worldwide. And it will start with students in school," Bonker said. "We can change the way the world sees nonspeaking autism. It is a neuromotor disorder, not a cognitive one."

Bonker also urged her fellow graduates to

remember that, like the late Rollins alum Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood fame did, “Life is for service. “During my freshman year, I remember hearing a story about our favorite alumnus, Mister Rogers. When he died, a handwritten note was found in his wallet. It said, “Life is for service.” You have probably seen it on the plaque by Strong Hall. Life is for service. So simple, yet so profound.”

Bonker is also a poet and lyricist. She published the book I Am In Here in 2011 and in April, Bonker released the first two songs of her I Am In Here album, "I Am in Here" and "Silent Cage" – for which Bonker wrote the lyrics and The Bleeding Hearts, a Boston-based band, performed and wrote the music.

After graduation, Bonker plans to continue her career in music, work at Communication 4 ALL and advocate for nonspeaking people with autism everywhere.

"I hope that we are creating a movement of autistics and allies to give everyone a voice," Bonker noted.