DIY AAC

Augmentative and alternative communication tools created or significantly customized by the users themselves rather than prescribed by clinicians or purchased as commercial products. DIY AAC ranges from low-tech solutions like handmade communication diaries and picture boards to modified commercial hardware and software. The DIY approach offers advantages including greater personalization, lower cost, stronger sense of ownership and agency, and the ability to evolve organically with changing communication needs. Research shows that the creative labour involved in making DIY AAC can itself be empowering, building identity and connection through the process of crafting a personal communication tool.