2010 Keynote Speaker

Robert Rummel-Hudson

In his keynote address, “Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords”, Robert Rummel-Hudson will discuss his family’s journey to Assistive Technology and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.  Their experiences will be familiar to parents in similar circumstances, and his perspective should be beneficial to professionals who work in the field of Assistive Technology.

Robert Rummel-Hudson’s memoir, Schuyler’s Monster: A Father’s Journey with His Wordless Daughter, tells the story of raising a little girl with a disability and learning to become the father she needs.  It was published in February 2008 by St. Martin’s Press.

When his daughter Schuyler was eighteen months old, a simple question by her pediatrician set in motion a slow transformation for Robert Rummel-Hudson, from a sarcastic, befuddled dad to the very last thing any new father or mother ever expects or desires to become: a special needs parent.  Armed with nothing more than his love for his tenacious little girl and his determination to defeat her rare and invisible disorder, he fought his own depression, his past family dysfunction and the nagging suspicion that he was not the right person for the job.  In doing so, he discovered a sense of purpose and responsibility, and became the father and advocate that Schuyler needed to help fight her monster.

In Schuyler’s Monster, Rummel-Hudson shares the story of his daughter, now nine years old, who was born with a rare neurological brain disorder called bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria, which prevents her from being able to speak.  Throughout his book, Rob talks about what Schuyler calls her “big box of words”, Prentke Romich’s Vantage Lite speech-output device.

Robert and his family currently live in Plano, Texas, where Schuyler attends a special class for children who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices.  The greater part of her days are now spent in mainstream classes with neurotypical children her age.

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AT Expo Archive

• 2009