Mother Gets Keyboard Tattoo To Help Autistic Son Communicate
An autistic boy's mother tattooed a keyboard on her arm to give her non-speaking son a reliable backup communication method, inspiring a viral movement that has led to keyboard-print shirts and free tattoos for other families.
A devoted mother named Jessica has found a way for her 11-year-old son Hunter, who is autistic and unable to speak, to always have a means of communicating with her—by having a keyboard tattooed on her own arm. The idea has given her family a reliable backup communication method and has inspired the creation of keyboard-print shirts and free tattoos for parents of other autistic children.
The concept began when Jessica took Hunter out to eat and his augmentative and alternative communication tablet, which helps him select words and symbols to communicate, suddenly lost battery power. While Jessica worried, Hunter remained calm. He grabbed a napkin, drew a keyboard on it, and pointed to letters to order his food. This moment inspired Jessica with an immediate idea.
"That event made me realize I couldn't limit his communication to technology alone, because technology can fail," Jessica told Canada's CTV News.
She then devised a backup solution that would never run out of battery: a keyboard permanently attached to her own body. Jessica worked with a tattoo artist to ink a keyboard on her forearm, designed with letters, symbols, happy and sad faces, and an "I love you" button.
When Jessica revealed the tattoo to her son, the first word he typed on his mother's arm was "Mama." Since then, communication between mother and son has become significantly easier. Whenever they are together, Hunter can tap letters on his mother's arm to immediately convey his thoughts.
The tattoo offers another important advantage: privacy. Unlike Hunter's communication device, which produces sound when he selects words, the tattoo on Jessica's arm allows mother and son to communicate silently.
On July 8, Jessica posted a video on Facebook showing her son using her arm to communicate through the tattoo. The clip went viral, receiving over 2 million likes on social media and inspiring other families with non-speaking members.
"When we remove communication barriers, we're giving people who cannot speak the chance to show us who they really are," Jessica told a Canadian news agency.
The idea has spread far beyond one mother's arm tattoo. Remarkably, Hunter's schoolmates also wanted keyboard-print shirts. Jessica explained that the children wanted these shirts "so they could talk to Hunter on the playground and whisper secrets to him."
Jessica partnered with a clothing company to produce shirts with a keyboard printed on the sleeves. She has revealed that parents, nurses, doctors, and emergency responders from around the world have contacted her seeking ways to help autistic children in schools and hospitals.
