This presentation will share research into the lived experience of young people who speak with or perhaps it is through a speech-generating device (SGD). The research draws upon phenomenological methods (van Manen 2014) to explore the meaning of speaking with a SGD in the lives of aided communicators.

This session will focus on the experience of lived space. What kind of space audible space is created when one speaks using a SGD? How might this space both enable and dys-able being heard? Themes of opening of audible space, a distance too far, a crowded space, the space of text, and the voice the space demands will be illustrated through lived experience descriptions of SGD and reflection on the meaning of space in the lives SGD users.  Insights for how understanding gleaned from this study can inform AAC practices will be shared and discussed.