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Help designing a card explaining when I cannot speak

Rocco said:
When I have trouble talking or don’t want to, I just touch my throat, and sometimes I have a paper and pen to communicate further.
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Rocco! Hi, it has been so long since we spoke. Your painting is still on my wall. It never comes down.

I think you have a good idea about pointing to your throat. I started using a smart phone this year and today I loaded an app called Speak4Me Pro. I think it is excellent. It will voice any phrase I type and it allows me to save all my favorites. I think it will help a lot but I have not tried it in public. What matters is how other people react to it. If they do not like it, it would not be the solution I am hoping for but when I got stuck with the bus driver and had trouble speaking, she was very nice about it. Maybe most people will be.

If I lie all the time, I can say anything. I put on a persona and I do not think anyone call tell I am different. But it is such a big lie it makes me sick and I get depressed. That is why I am trying to be more myself. Which means more problems in public.

I little while ago I decided to speak more the way I think which is why I am mostly not using contractions. The more contractions I use the less honest I am being but the faster I can talk.
 
SolarPoweredNightOwl said:
One important point is to have this on a lanyard, preferably brightly colored. If you go mute during a police stop, you risk being beaten or killed if you reach into your pocket for the card. If you wear a lanyard around your neck, with the card inside your shirt, it's less threatening to slowly pull the card out by the lanyard. Use sign language first to indicate you can't speak, then the cop can read the card.
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I have been thinking about that. The first card I made, I did not leave room for a lanyard hole. I lowered the text on the next one. I am still making up my mind on this project. It is hard to see ahead all the possible outcomes like when I prepared for my bus trip but the driver thought of the wrong fare amount. That never occurred to me as a possibility. I am thinking about a lanyard. I have a number of them. Thank you for the good idea.
 
Judge said:
Good point. But then my comment wasn't meant to be taken that literally. I agree...you need to work out the details in terms of wording it all in a relatively "diplomatic" manner so as not to offend anyone right off.

And you don't want to word anything that makes you appear too vulnerable. Showing such a card to a potential predator could be precarious to say the least.

The world can be a very ugly place at times...:eek:
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I never thought about that. Dammit. I only thought about regular safe people. What if I am getting on a bus or doing something else and someone predatory sees the card and decides to try assaulting me (rhetorical). This is becoming a more complicated project than I thought but I like long-term detailed projects so maybe I will work it out.

Thank you very much for making this point. I really had not thought about the possible risk.
 
Something that gets attention is good.
Yellow is not a colour with the associations of red or green, so good.
 
Alexej said:
Something that gets attention is good.
Yellow is not a colour with the associations of red or green, so good.
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That is what I am thinking. I will only have a moment to show the card in a dynamic situation where the other person is not expecting it. I thought the yellow might help differentiate it.
 
Most of the complications you're picturing with the card, can be avoided with good judgment. Sign language, bright non-gang colors and lanyard for dealing with cops, for instance. Since you only need the card when you go mute, you can keep it tucked under your shirt, so you're not giving predators information (unless you happen to be communicating with a predator when you go mute, but not much helping that). Instead of saying you can communicate the rest by phone and not to take your phone, just carry a pen and notepad--worst case, if it gets swiped, you're only out a couple dollars.

One further consideration is to keep the card itself as brief and simple as possible. People are impatient, and a shocking number of people in the USA can barely read--so they're unlikely to read more than one, maybe two short sentences. (This also means they're likely to read the card aloud, attempting to sound out the words, so mind your surroundings.) Put the most vital info first (that you can't currently speak) and do the rest by notepad.
 
SolarPoweredNightOwl said:
Most of the complications you're picturing with the card, can be avoided with good judgment. Sign language, bright non-gang colors and lanyard for dealing with cops, for instance. Since you only need the card when you go mute, you can keep it tucked under your shirt, so you're not giving predators information (unless you happen to be communicating with a predator when you go mute, but not much helping that). Instead of saying you can communicate the rest by phone and not to take your phone, just carry a pen and notepad--worst case, if it gets swiped, you're only out a couple dollars.

One further consideration is to keep the card itself as brief and simple as possible. People are impatient, and a shocking number of people in the USA can barely read--so they're unlikely to read more than one, maybe two short sentences. (This also means they're likely to read the card aloud, attempting to sound out the words, so mind your surroundings.) Put the most vital info first (that you can't currently speak) and do the rest by notepad.
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I think this is excellent advice. What about just saying:

I am autistic
I may use my phone to answer you
 
Very concise and gets the job done, I like it. I know I probably sound like a condescending jerk, harping on about people being bad at reading, but I've seen so many supposedly educated people who are barely literate, it has to be taken into account.
 
The card I decided on will say: I am autistic, I may use my phone to answer you

I have taken the bus several times since I had so much trouble and things move so fast when boarding that I think I Rocco's idea is best, to point to my throat and use my phone if I need to.

Thank you everyone for your help ♥️
 
I have one great idea. I web developer from Software Development Company | MLSDev and I decided to create the same app with the same functionality. I have some question for you all: What are your software development goals? What are your software development timelines? How do you plan on managing software development and software implementation?
 
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Proud of you grommet. That you are trying, improving, building your own tools. I used to carry index cards, like everywhere. I still do, sometimes. I like the index cards because they are cheap and disposable. I always (almost) have a pocket notebook.
 
I dont. There are some really technical people here, who are up on all the latest stuff. I go old school and carry pen and paper everywhere. @tree is a site moderator here, she is really knowledgable. There is a huge data base here that I usually need help with finding stuff out. @tree is really nice
 
In today's business world, software development companies have to be quick to respond to customer demands and have the ability to build new functionality and solutions quickly and efficiently. A good software development company also considers the current state of the market at the time of application development. Sometimes the software development company mlsdev.com/blog/how-to-create-a-location-based-app may be asked to take on a large project that would require a large change in the market, for example, when a new operating system is released. These projects are typically handled by custom software development companies that have built systems specifically for this purpose. In today's business world, there are a number of developers who can work as a team. The business skills required to become a successful custom software developer are related to communication, teamwork and problem-solving. The software development company needs to have excellent interpersonal skills and be able to communicate effectively with their clients. They also need to have business skills, along with the ability to read and understand source code, understand the requirements, and be able to follow the ever-changing business world.
 
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