Adult vocabulary

Also called Swearing on a device, Age-appropriate vocabulary, Slang in AAC

Swearing, slang and grown-up words. Removing them from an adult's device is censorship, and here is why it does harm.

What it is

Adult vocabulary means the words adults use: swearing, slang, words for drink, drugs, sex, politics, money and bodies, and the ordinary rudeness of everyday speech. Most AAC systems ship without them, and many are stripped further by the people who set them up, so that a forty-year-old is left with the vocabulary of a polite eight-year-old.

The person did not choose that. Somebody chose it for them, and that somebody had no right to.

Who it can help

Adults and teenagers who use AAC, and the parents, therapists and support workers who set up their systems and have to decide what goes on them. It is also for organisations, because a home or school with a "no swearing on devices" policy is applying a rule to one group of people that it does not apply to anyone else.

It is not an argument that a child's system should be full of swearing. It is an argument that the vocabulary should match the person's age and choices, and that for an adult that decision is theirs.

How it works

The principle is simple. A speaking adult can say whatever they like and take the consequences. An adult who uses AAC has the same right, under the Equality Act and under the plain meaning of the right to communicate. Removing words from a person's device is not the same as asking them to be polite; it is making politeness the only thing they can be.

There are practical costs to the censorship. Without the words for their body and for sex a person cannot report abuse; see relationships vocabulary. Without slang they cannot sound like their friends; see friendships. Without the ability to swear when they drop something, they cannot express ordinary frustration, and that frustration goes somewhere else. Staff who are shocked by a swear word on a device usually are not shocked by the same word from a colleague.

Most systems make it easy: a page for adult words, added on request, and a person chooses when to open it. That page belongs to the person, and a good personal vocabulary plan asks them what goes on it.

Getting started

If you support an adult, ask them this week which words they want that they do not have. Ask directly, and ask in private. Write the answer down and add the words.

If you are the AAC user, you can ask for this, and if a service refuses, ask them to put the refusal in writing and to say which policy it comes from. Then take it to the manager, and if needed to an advocate; see independent advocacy.

If you are a parent of a teenager, remember that a teenager who cannot swear on their device will find a way to swear anyway, and it is better that the way is a word than an action.

Where to get help

Communication Matters has published on age-appropriate vocabulary and its members who use AAC are outspoken about this. Mencap and BILD cover rights and choice for adults with a learning disability. Disability Rights UK explains the Equality Act. A speech and language therapist can build the page; you do not need to justify wanting it.