In case you don't know what FC(facilitated communication) is, it's a
method of assisting of disabled person to type. At one end, it
involves holding the person's hand into the right position for hunt-
and-peck typing and helping the person pull back after typing
(rather than pressing the same button repeatedly), the other extreme
varies from definition, from putting your hand on their shoulder or
whatever to just standing near them, providing moral support. What
seems to make it controversial is that most FC users were considered
severe/profoundly developmentally delayed prior to beginning FC, but
the typing produced shows much higher ability (in many cases
average/above average). Some people believe that severely disabled
people are routinely underestimated, others think the facilitater is
actually the one communicating. A number of studies have shown FC
users being unable to name an object their facilitater hadn't seen,
but some FC users have demonstrated knowledge the faciliater lacks,
such as a bilingual Italian-English boy with a monboligual English
facilitater successfully translating Italian to English and vice
versa. Also, some people start out with FC and progress to
independant typing or even speaking.
Ettina