AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

Seymour and Lupton (2004), exposure to a ‘world of strangers’ is not without risk but
exposure to the
“wild woods of everyday social relationships will build confidence and selfhood.
Exposure to danger has transformative power” (p. 301).
Tavares and Peixoto (2003) outline one of the challenges faced by young adolescents
who use AAC is having limited access to a variety of conversational partners. Also
they face a decrease for interventional support as the focus is primarily during their
early years and tends to become limited during adolescence. They suggest
conversational skill development will depend on the communication experiences
available and a significant aspect of having varied conversational experiences is the
opportunity this offers to negotiate conflict and disagreement between peers.
5.8.7. Dating opportunities
The data revealed a very small amount of evidence that using online social media was
providing one participant with an opportunity to keep in contact with his girlfriend as
their paths rarely crossed within their college environment. The memo created in
relation to a possible communication breakdown within the group interview situation
shows how the transcription process revealed an issue not apparent in real time. This
may be an area of importance for young people who use AAC but due to the time
constraints of this project it was not possible to take this forward as this was one of
the last data collection sessions and the issue did not reveal itself fully until after the
final interview opportunity. Whitty (2008) suggests that the internet can provide a
unique environment for people to learn about and experience relationships and
sexuality. Greene, Derlega and Mathews (2006) discuss the importance of selfdisclosure
for achieving romantic closeness. For people who use AAC being able to
‘talk’ online may have significant ramifications for intimate relationships. Also
people with physical disabilities have few opportunities to be alone as they tend to
have personal assistants in attendance. This is likely to have a major impact on the
ability of adolescents who use AAC to spend private time together so having an
online connection may be highly significant. Bryen (2008) suggests many adults who
use AAC do not have the relevant vocabulary to reflect life roles and one area of
particular concern is having the vocabulary available to express sexuality, both in
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