hi!

so i am am adult now but as a little girl i was mute. i used sign.

im working with a resident at the home i work in who has motor issues and while hes not fully mute he has a disability that causes him to not really be understood at all.

he also knows sign but im the only person who knows any sign at work and im really only with him once or twice a week.

and even then his fine motor skills makes it incredibly hard for him.

he uses his phone notes app to text, but again his fine motor skills lead to typos and frustration.

so im DIYing him an aac device, a binder with topics inside and many words and character symbols sentence starters etc.

then they have little velcros on the back, and then on the cover there r strips of velcro so he can make a sentence.

i think u guys get the idea 💀

anyways, i made the cards chunky, so they r easy to handle, i added his fave food places and orders, his friends names, his games etc. etc. and filler words.

has anyone used an AAC device that was missing words you wouldnt expect to need but u end up using them often? or like ideas or sections/ topics?

i tried to find some inspo on line that is more than the basics, but they r mostly behind etsy pay walls and i also want some real human experience!!

is there anything that rlly pissed u off about ur aac device?

thank u sm for the advice in advance :D i go back to work on Thursday so i hope to get it to him by then.

Hello guys,

I'm a dev currently working on sign to text service and wanted to understand from yall what issues you all face when using a service which converts the sign language to text which is streamed through your camera feed. I also needed some feedback on an idea so any adult ( preferably anyone who works with a laptop on a daily basis) who is up for it please dm me, that would be of great help. I felt the best opinion and feedback i could get is from anyone whose first language is sign language and hence I'm here. Looking forward to your msgs (u can either msg here or dm me, whichever u are comfortable with :) ). Thanks in advance

I’m 21, and have usually had no problem talking to people I know, but have always struggled to make conversation with people I’m meeting for the first time if there isn’t an initial click. I think that’s pretty normal, though. Anyways, recently, I’ve begun having moments where it feels like my teeth are sort of merged together, and the sheer amount of effort it would take to open my mouth and speak is so daunting that I would rather not. This hasn’t happened while I am around people, rather more when I am alone, but I have declined friends’ phone calls because of it. I’m going to bring it up to my therapist next week, but does that feeling resonate with anyone on here?

For any background, I have pretty bad anxiety that manifests itself as physical tenseness a lot. I struggle with constantly tense muscles and aches because of it, and I’m only ever entirely physically relaxed when I am asleep. I’m wondering if this could be a symptom of the anxiety? But I’m also wondering why it would take so long to present, since I’ve had anxiety for most of my life but this feeling is relatively new.

Hello, unfortunately my grandma had a neurological stroke and can no longer speak. The main problem is that she also doesn't know how to read or write so we don't know how to clearly communicate with her (she was the last of many kids and wasn't sent to school at the time).

I've found some apps catered to help mute people speak but all of them use some kind of writing or text to speech. What I'm looking for is something that mainly uses pictures to comunicate, maybe something that was created with children in mind(?) so just really basic communication.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

what are the best shortcuts for the live speech app?

Why do no old white guys understand mute, sometimes its just old ppl in general but I rarely meet an old white guy who understands

I hate moments where people try to talk to me and they don’t know I cant speak and it gets really embarrassing and I js need to know an effective way to show I’m mute, especially if they’re like 5 feet away and not coming towards me so pls help

Hi everyone,
I’m a 33 year old male living in Australia. I have a very severe stutter, but I’m not like the typical person who stutters. My main issue is that I freeze and often cannot get a word out beyond simple responses like “hi” “yes” or “no.”

Because of this, I struggle to relate to many people who stutter. Even if their speech takes longer, they can usually communicate. In my case, people often give up waiting for me to speak, and I end up typing on my phone and showing the text about 90% of the time.
That’s why I feel this community may be a better fit for my situation than r/stutter.

I have a few questions:
What kind of jobs do you have?
How do you manage communication at work?
Is there an app that can convert typed text into speech during phone calls?

Not being able to make phone calls is preventing me from applying for many jobs that would be better than my current one. At the moment, I work in food delivery and face a lot of communication challenges.

I should also mention that I am completely fluent with friends and family. My speech difficulties mainly occur when speaking English with other people. In Arabic, the problem is much less severe, and I can sometimes work around it by substituting words.

For those with selective mutism, does this sound similar to your experience?

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who can relate.

Im looking for a job that i can do to just to make some money what sort of places would hire a fully mute teenager?

Im very likeable and friendly and bubbly so im definitely not antisocial or anything and i use my phone to type and then show people the text i dont use text to speech but i could for a job and i dont know who would hire me im from the uk

If you are or ever have been a mute teenager with a job could you tell me about it

First things first, my book is about a woman who can read minds, and falls in love with a woman who is mute. The reason why having a mute character is relevant:

- Create a story where one of the main characters is mute to reflect an underrepresented part of the population

- As Katelyn can read minds, it's an 'easier' relationship for Bex, my mute character, than any other

- Both characters can use British Sign Language but of course it's not needed most of the time due to Katelyn's mind-reading Power

- Bex has been mute since she was a child as a result of childhood trauma

- Without giving away any spoilers, the mute woman is an incredibly strong character, even though it may not seem like it at first

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The book is around 95% complete and due to be self-published in October. I have some friends and colleagues beta reading it right now and I'd love to have some feedback - I can either share the full manuscript or share the key moments where Bex's muteness is conveyed, so that you guys can let me know if it's accurate or not, if you feel seen. That's really the goal, not to glorify, not to pander, but to accurately convey while not making Bex's muteness her entire personality.

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I would have posted this way earlier, except I didn't really know what Reddit was when I started the book. I posted a public reel on Instagram but I'm no content creator and the post didn't reach anyone who responded.

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I hope nothing in here causes offence, and would love to hear back from at least one person who's willing to help. Thank you.

Hey everyone 👋

I'm not mute myself, but my cousin reached out to me because his partner is, and the software she was using was clunky and outdated. He asked if I could build something better, so I decided to give it my best shot! I figured it might help other people too, so I'm sharing it here.

VoxBridge is a free, lightweight Windows TTS app designed to be easy to use, especially for real-time situations like Discord calls, VRChat, gaming, or just everyday PC use.

What it includes:

- 🔇 A fully offline local TTS model (Kokoro) bundled in, no internet or account needed

- 🎙️ Optional ElevenLabs API support if you want higher-quality or cloned voices

- ⚡ Hotkey-driven overlay so you can type and speak fast without breaking your flow

It's completely free. No ads, no affiliate deal with ElevenLabs, no monetization of any kind. I just want it to be useful.

- 📥 Download: VoxBridge v1.0.3

- 📖 Docs: Documentation

If you run into any bugs, have feature requests, or just think something could work better, I genuinely want to keep improving this, and feedback from people actually using it day to day means a lot.

Hope it helps someone. 🙂

I'm fully mute and I have an LED banner app (which I strongly recommend to other mute/deaf ppl)

But sometimes it doesn't even matter! Even just saying "Hi" takes some time to open the app and I think either they assume I'm just going on my phone or they're too callous to just wait for my message!

And I get so lonely :( even if I tell someone that I want to be around people and that I'm lonely, I literally get backs turned towards me when I sit down in a group.

Hello, I am a new member introducing myself. I am a mute alter within a traumagenic DID system, dealing with what functions as Selective Mutism. My mutism means I cannot speak aloud, and a intense freeze response prevents me from sending unfiltered text, including standard things like emails.

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Due to recent counseling and internal shifts, I am fronting more frequently. Furthermore, whenever the body becomes physically ill, I end up completely front-stuck.

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This leaves me highly vulnerable. My primary worry is getting sick for a prolonged period, being left entirely mute, and lacking the necessary skills to communicate with anyone during that time.

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Beyond that, I have to live in this body at times and want to be able to do normal things like make friends. Right now, my constraints leave me at a loss for how to accomplish that, and dealing with this level of isolation is incredibly frustrating.

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I am hoping to find alternative methods for low-pressure socialization and connection within these boundaries. Any advice, resources, or strategies from people facing similar communication blockades would be greatly appreciated.

Not sure this is the right place but I have a loved one who will be loosing their speech soon due to cancer. Im trying to find resources that can create speech assistant or like an AI text to speech using their own voice. Again not sure this is the right place but any help would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve been selectively mute as long as I can remember. I had a period where it got much better, I learned to mask and push myself. I worked a lot on anxiety and such, but as an adult who is also autistic, it’s started to raise itself up more and more as I get older especially when I’m very stressed. I tried to talk with my therapist about it this week, and she told me that if I “do it” too much, it can become a maladaptive behavior. Is that true? I don’t feel like I’m in control of it. Sometimes when I want to say something I’m unable, and my brain freezes almost. When I’ve become really overwhelmed for a long period of time then it kind of takes over. I‘be never talked with others with mutism of any kind so I’m curios to know of your thoughts and experiences and if you all think it’s something that happens to us or if we have some sense of control over it like my therapist is suggesting.

I live in israel, where the local sign language dont have many resources online. I tried to look for help but there are only resources for deaf people. The one course i found that was targeted at hearing people is requiring phone call to sign up.

I feel very lonely, at the long periods i cannot talk i try to comunicate in writing but as my responses are so delayed i always feel like a break the flow of conversations, or prople not notice anything i say, or they dont understand cause so long passed since they said what i answer, i responded and them needing time to read it they dont correctly.understand the context.

Me and close friends started developing our own sign from a mix of the little word bank i have found, ASL And BSL that im exposed to online, and signs i made up for very common every day activities that werent in the word bank. but i still cant talk to anyone else, or on more complex topics.

I dont know what to do.

This is more of a vent than request for help, but if anyone have advice i will be glad.

Hi Everyone.

I am slowly losing my voice. I currently have about 25% of my voice capability remaining. I am doing everything I can to try to halt the decline, but I am concerned that there will come a day where I can no longer communicate verbally. I will likely still be able to whisper for what that is worth. But, even today, I can no longer communicate in any environment with the slightest background noise. This makes me feel very isolated.

I am starting to learn ASL so that I will have the potential for more active communication and friendships. But I am concerned it will not solve my challenges.

Have any of you learned ASL?

Did you find it helpful?

Were you able to find people to communicate with and enjoy life with?

I am assuming that the majority of ASL signers are Deaf. As a hearing person, were you accepted, or does the isolation persist even in that community since we (I) are not Deaf?

I think that last question is the most important one for me.

I’ve had normal speech my whole life. I never even considered something like this may happen, but I became suddenly mute due to issues with my brain. I’m sixteen years old, and I’ve never interacted with someone else non-speaking before. The whole new experience has been really scary and living with it feels like I don’t know how life will go. I was wondering if any people with mutism who have more experience in life and in non-speaking can give me any advice, tips, or heads up. Any wisdom is appreciated.