More than words: AAC Awareness Month 2026

 

Communication is more than words.

It’s telling someone what you want, and what you don’t. It’s making a joke, sharing an opinion, asking a question and telling a story. It’s connecting with the people around you, expressing who you are and having a say in the things that matter to you.

This October, for AAC Awareness Month, we’re celebrating all of this and more with our campaign: more than words.

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What is AAC Awareness Month?

AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. It describes the different ways people communicate alongside, or instead of, speech.

AAC can include communication books and boards, symbols, signs and gestures, as well as communication apps and devices. Many people communicate in more than one way, choosing the methods that work best for them in different situations.

AAC Awareness Month takes place every October and is an opportunity to increase understanding of AAC, challenge misconceptions and, most importantly, celebrate the people who use AAC.

For us, awareness should go beyond simply knowing what AAC is; it’s about understanding why access to communication matters.

Communication is more than words

Communication gives us ways to connect with other people. To build relationships. Make choices. Learn. Work. Tell stories. Be silly. Disagree. Ask for help. Share an idea. Say something unexpected. Speak up about the things that matter to us.

It’s part of how we express our personalities, participate in our communities and show the world who we are. That’s the idea behind more than words.

Throughout AAC Awareness Month, we’ll be sharing stories and perspectives from AAC users, families and people from across the AAC community, exploring the many different things communication makes possible. And we want those voices to lead the conversation.

 

AAC in everyday life

One of the things we want to celebrate this October is just how varied communication can be. There is no single AAC experience and no single way to communicate.

Throughout the month, we’ll meet AAC users and families and hear about communication in their everyday lives – from the big milestones to the seemingly ordinary moments that can mean just as much.

We’ll also be talking about multimodal communication and exploring how people might use speech, symbols, gestures, facial expressions, communication devices and many other methods together.

Because successful communication isn’t about communicating in one particular way – it’s about being able to say what you want to say.