Ido Kedar

Ido Kedar is a non-speaking autistic person, identified by various sources as an autism advocate, to whom two books have been attributed: the essay collection Ido in Autismland and the novel In Two Worlds (2018).

Communications with Kedar have their origins in various techniques of facilitated communication (FC) and the rapid prompting method (RPM). He initially used letter boards with facilitator involvement, and in later interactions has been reported to type on an iPad without physical contact from a facilitator. The authenticity of writings attributed to Kedar, as with all communications that ultimately derive from FC, is disputed. Mainstream scientific and professional organizations consider FC and RPM pseudoscience because evidence from controlled trials show that it is typically the facilitator rather than the disabled person who is the source of the communication. Some advocates for FC have maintained that because Kedar does not have physical support when the text is produced, there ought to be a re-evaluation by the professional community as to whether such claims of communication are valid, In later interviews and interactions, Kedar has been reported to type on an iPad without physical contact from a facilitator.

In the Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, Joseph Valente analyzes Ido in Autismland, which he describes as an "auti-biography," to explore "the literary expectation [...] that the autistic protagonist will conquer the adversity posed by the condition to the degree that it will feel as if something along the lines of a 'miracle recovery' has been achieved."

In Education Digest, Sean McCollum notes that in Ido in Autismland, text attributed to Kedar "expresses his contempt for ABA" and describes "a self-described neurological disconnect between mind and body." In a Studies in Social Justice article by Becky Gold, Kedar was one of several advocates and bloggers noted for their "insightful critiques" of ABA.

Wall Street Journal op-ed In 2018, an op-ed attributed to Kedar was published in the Wall Street Journal, entitled "I Was Born Unable to Speak, and a Disputed Treatment Saved Me". This received a response in the Wall Street Journal by Elise Davis-McFarland, the president of the American Speech–Language–Hearing Association (ASHA), who wrote that other organizations, in addition to ASHA, did not recommend RPM due to a "lack of high-quality scientific proof of RPM's efficacy."

In Two Worlds In 2018, In Two Worlds was self-published under Kedar's name. It was described by the Irish Independent as "the first novel ever published by a severely autistic non-speaking person"

Appearances Kedar has had speaking appearances at conferences and guest lectures.

Authorship dispute The authenticity of Kedar's authorship has been debated, reflecting the broader scientific consensus that facilitated communication (FC) and the rapid prompting method (RPM) are not reliable methods of communication. Major scientific and professional organizations, including the American Speech–Language–Hearing Association, have concluded that these methods lack high-quality scientific evidence of efficacy, and that in FC, it is typically the facilitator, not the disabled person, who is the source of the communication. , has pointed out that nonverbal autistic individuals such as Kedar who require a nearby facilitator to communicate, even without physical contact, may be responding to auditory and visual cues, a known psychological phenomenon, so that the facilitator may be authoring some or all of the communication. Kedar's writings were cited as supporting examples by advocates for facilitated communication Melanie Heyworth, Timothy Chan (himself a facilitated communicator), and Wenn Lawson in Frontiers in Psychology: "At the very least, as researchers, we have a duty of care to acknowledge and listen to the voices of FC/RPM users who have become independent of physical support and who have irrefutably demonstrated cognitive and communicative competence." Recipient of the 2017 Diller teen Tikkun Olam award in recognition of Ido in Autismland.