Member's statement: National Nonspeaking/Non-verbal Awareness Day
Member's statement by Mr Robbie Butler on .
- MLA
- Mr Robbie Butler
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 30 September 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- National Nonspeaking/Non-verbal Awareness Day
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5142807
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I mark National Nonspeaking/Non-verbal Awareness Day. I want to be absolutely clear that we must not allow this to become just another date in the calendar of which we raise awareness and move on. I want to issue a challenge to all Members and to those beyond the Chamber. Stop for a moment and recognise perhaps the most undervalued human right of all: the right to communicate. We must remember that, just because someone cannot speak, it does not mean that they do not understand. We wake up every morning and speak without thinking, which is blatantly obvious sometimes, perhaps even from me. We debate; we interrupt; we shout across the Chamber. We treat speech like air: invisible, automatic and always available. However, for thousands across Northern Ireland, including children with autism, stroke survivors and people with degenerative conditions, speech is not guaranteed, and for some, it is impossible. It is a work. It is a frustration. It is silence, misunderstood sometimes as disinterest. It is intelligence trapped behind a barrier that others mistake for absence. Let me say it plainly: we do not value communication until it is taken from us, so this day serves as a reminder to support and advocate for non-verbal individuals, ensuring that their voices are heard and that their rights are respected. Today is not just about empathy but about urgency. Urgency for better access to assisted technology; urgency for training so that our public services can truly listen, even when no words are spoken; urgency to treat non-speaking individuals not as silent but as unheard. On National Nonspeaking/Non-verbal Awareness Day, I ask not for sympathy but for accountability and some awareness-raising. If we pride ourselves in the Assembly on giving voice to the voiceless, let us begin by ensuring that silence is not mistaken for invisibility.
303 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.04 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.71).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.06 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.71 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 1.00 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:16 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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