The Case of Carly Fleischmann, Nonverbal Communication Fraud

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Published recently,
http://www.ukrpolitic.com/9-2/
http://www.ukrpolitic.com/journals/2021/9/UP_vol_9_Howitt.pdf
The preprint has clickable links.
https://psyarxiv.com/37vur/

Summary
From 2008 - 2018, Carly Fleischmann, who has extreme non-verbal autism, was portrayed by her two speech therapists, via a multitude of variations of surreptitious fraud, as being able to type-communicate with keyboards and icon-touch-pads at a normal level, if not advanced level. She was portrayed as such on an array of major television programs, as well as on her YouTube channel, which purportedly shows her conducting in-person interviews with an array of celebrities. Her two speech therapists, in succeeding for approximately ten years with this, engaged in what I refer to as “Factitious Heroism By Proxy”, as they accomplished persuading innumerable millions of people that Carly is an extremely rare hero of autism. Moreover, the speech therapists, in doing the aforementioned, concurrently engaged in Factitious Heroism, because they accomplished persuading innumerable millions of people that they are the heroes who are in part responsible for Carly's heroism. Unlike my case on Tito and Soma Mukhopadhyay http://www.fhijournal.org/16-2/, while Carly's speech therapists engage in a multitude of variations of surreptitious fraud, the fraud was not so masterful that Nobel level scientists, other elite scientists, elite physicians, elite journalists, innumerable millions of other people, etc., would not be able to observe at least some of it. Due to this, I believe that this matter is also one of Folie À Plusieurs.

Why reason would there be to pull off a fraud of this type for over a decade?

How likely is it that they would be able to fool veteran reporters and doctors for over a decade?

How likely is it that they can get veteran reporters and doctors to go along with this for over a decade?

I think this is a slanderous accusation against Carly and another attempt to prove that autistics claiming to have intellect are not autistics at all and are engaged in an elaborate hoax on the public. I have no credentials for my accusation which is as much credentials as Daniel Howitt apparently has. Mr. Howitt has written a book on an unrelated topic and an article in the Cambridge Day describes him as a physical therapist. I have seen no proof of any credentials in speech pathology or autism.

Ukrainian Policymaker (ISSN 2617-2208 (Online), ISSN 2617-2194 (Print)) is an international, double-blind peer-reviewed, open-access journal, which is published semiannually by the International Society of Philosophy and Cosmology (ISPC).

Ukrainian Policymaker publishes the results of modern researches in the field of public administration, public policy, and security studies. The journal is focusing on developing the strategic vision of the foreign and domestic policy of Ukraine, concepts of national and global security, international cooperation and development. The editors are especially interested in papers that deal with new visions, pathways, and tools for achievements of global security.

The "Ukrainian Policymaker" seems to be one of those websites that claims to be "scientific", but that is actually a pay-for-publish website in which anyone can have a paper published without any real peer-group review.

Last edited by magz on 29 Nov 2021, 1:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.: removing potentially offensive expression

The journal can be contacted and asked if they require payment. I contacted them and they do not.
Their peer-review team (editorial board) is listed at the left of the article.

The above paper associates Carly Fleischmann with "Facilitated Communication." But, according to the following ABC News interview with her parents:

Autistic Girl's Parents Respond to Some of Our Viewers' Most Pressing Questions: How did Carly learn to read and write? Is she cured of autism? By ABC News, February 22, 2008.

The abstract of the article states "a variation of ... Facilitated Communication".
" ... They devised a variation of the treatment method and educational method that is referred to as Facilitated Communication."

In the article, page 3, footnote 5, 1:35 - 3:22 in the video.
McKenzie, J. (2009 (a)). “Medical Mysteries: Teen Locked in Autistic Body Finds
Inner Voice”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5gyFWMUUG8. 20/20.
The two speech therapists are shown performing pure Facilitated Communication when she was about 7-8 years old. They direct her hands/fingers to letter boards, screens, etc.

A reminder that Carly Fleischmann is not cause but a person there is reason to be concerned about.
Family Of Missing Social Media Star, Carly Fleischmann, Says She Is ‘Doing Well’ - January 14, 2021

Needless to say her sister’s cryptic response did not ease concerns for her well being.

The article linked by the OP mentions facilitators making up allegations of sexual abuse. There is also a long history of both women who are sexual assault victims being accused of making it up and claims by autistics of abuse being dismissed as a product of their autism. Many members of this board have been victims of one or both of these claims.

The veracity of Facilitated Communication is a legitimate topic for discussion on an Autism board. Wrong Planet serves as both a discussion board and a support group. If the claim in the article is false Fleischmann was denied agency, a situation most members here are familiar with. With that in mind the attitude should be the autistic person is innocent until at least an allegation is made by a credible source which is not the case here. Adding to the sensitivity in this particular case are
1. Possible sexual abuse which many WP members have had to endure and remain traumatized by
2. Fleischmann is much admired person in the autistic community.
3. The bizarre nature of her disappearance from public view leading to people thinking the worst.

In short I think you have a “perfect storm” for triggering people.

Regarding "disappeared" the article discusses this occurred after the national US television media who covered her from 2008-2018 were presented with a preprint of the article in 2017-2018.

The last activity about Carly was the brief social media claims of sexual abuse. These resources discuss claims of sexual abuse via Facilitated Communication.

The article provides several bases that Carly did not type the social media messages about sexual abuse and that it was her speech therapist who did in order to obtain more media coverage for her.

If they were after more media coverage for that did not work, she disappeared. The last few years before going silent were going very well publicity-wise.

If we are going down that rabbit hole a more plausible explanation is to revive the public image of the largely descredited Facilicatated Communication movement. But if they did that that put themselves in line for a big-time libel suit if not criminal charges.

I remain skeptical of this whole "Nonverbal Communication Fraud" claim, since no valid empirical evidence seems to have been brought forth.

I bet Carly doesn't go on social media-----because she just wants to be left alone.

That's pretty lame

It seems to me it's not from this description

' given only for the Ukrainian Policymaker. The article should not be under consideration or peer review or accepted for publication elsewhere.
All articles should be presented in accordance with the journal’s publication guidelines. Articles not adhering strictly to journal guidelines will be returned to authors without evaluation within a month. Submitted articles adhering to the journal’s guidelines are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief or the Editor, who will assign them to reviewers. The articles that are published in the Ukrainian Policymaker follow a double blind reviewing procedure.
The article does not contain anything that is disrespectful, demeaning, libellous, obscene, fraudulent, or illegal. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in the publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations.
We aim to complete the review process, from submission date to decision date, within ten weeks. If this process takes longer than the given period, the authors will be informed additionally about the reasons of the timeline changes. The Editor-in-Chief prepares a decision letter according to the reviewers’ comments, which is sent to the author of the article.
Sent materials are evaluated on the following criteria:
(1) Informational and completeness article title and its abstract.
(2) The structure of the article (the presence of an introduction, chapters, conclusion, applications).
(3) Transparency and accessibility of the text for the target audience of the journal.
(4) Completeness and relevance of bibliographic descriptions cited sources.
(5) Correct execution of bibliographic description of cited sources.
(6) Compliance with the rules of style.
(7) Compliance of grammar rules.
(8) The relevance and originality of the article.
(9) The scientific value of research.
(10) Clarity, correctness and transparency in the formulation of article aims and tasks.
(11) The quality of the main arguments ideas, thesis, provisions and conclusions of the article.
(12) Level of author`s argumentation evidence.
(13) Reliability and validity of quotations and references.'

Seems pretty fine and reviewed, needs to be logical in the staff reviews before it's published.
https://doaj.org/toc/2617-2208?source=% ... A%7B%7D%7D

From doaj, it redirrects to their rules on their own site.

The paper presented is hardly a rigorous scientific study, is it?
But maybe that's not the point.

More to the point, perhaps is what has happened to Carly Fleischman?
Many of us have serious concerns over her long media silence, current location and welfare.

Details here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4vGdoJLej0

There are so many conditions that contribute to a non-verbal state regardless of ability to communicate in general. Even I experience lesser degrees of this.

Like PP suggests, I also admire Carly for having braved the public, am upset by the invalidation, and wish her the best in caring for herself and having caring support.

The article discusses that media coverage of her stopped in 2018 when the content of the article [pre publication) was sent to the media covering her from 2008-2018. Then apparently her speech therapist in a last effort to obtain media coverage contrived a sexual abuse allegation - this garnered only one article however. He apparently has always operated her social media (facebook and twitter). The speech therapist then gave up.