Talk:Facilitated communication
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Telepathy claims
[edit]Is the idea that FC allegedly operates by telepathy worth mentioning at all?
- Engber, Daniel (2025-03-03). "The Telepathy Trap". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
- Rosin, Hanna, "The Podcast of Magical Thinking", The Atlantic, retrieved 2025-05-02
- Marshall, Michael (2025-01-31). "The Telepathy Tapes is wrong – autistic children don't have supernatural powers". The Skeptic. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
WhatamIdoing (talk) 05:41, 2 May 2025 (UTC)
- We could probably have an attributed statement like "Persons X,Y,Z state/theorize/posit that telepathy is what allows the Facilitator to communicate with the non-verbal person." - I don't think that most purveyors generally claim that telepathy is how this works, but I could be wrong. I haven't heard any specific claims at all as to HOW this works, but I'm not super familiar with this. ---Avatar317(talk) 00:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
- I understand that this story is told by a small number of people, when they are confronted with evidence that the "child" somehow knows things that have only been disclosed to the "mother". Instead of saying "Oh, I guess I was unconsciously guiding his hand after all", the mother says "The only way he could have typed something that I knew and he didn't is that he must be able to read my mind! My child actually has magical powers!" WhatamIdoing (talk) 01:11, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
- @WhatamIdoing [1] [2] search for "telepathy". See also The Telepathy Tapes, which should probably have criticism added in the lede for being, you know, bs. Polygnotus (talk) 23:22, 4 May 2025 (UTC)
- I understand that this story is told by a small number of people, when they are confronted with evidence that the "child" somehow knows things that have only been disclosed to the "mother". Instead of saying "Oh, I guess I was unconsciously guiding his hand after all", the mother says "The only way he could have typed something that I knew and he didn't is that he must be able to read my mind! My child actually has magical powers!" WhatamIdoing (talk) 01:11, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
- I'd say this is just WP:UNDUE. It doesn't seem central to the concept, just people grasping at straws because they need to believe this nonsense works. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 15:55, 5 May 2025 (UTC)
- I have been thinking that a sentence or maybe two might be appropriate. Something like "Some parents have even claimed that studies showing that the messages come from the parent instead can be explained by their disabled child having magic powers, such as telepathy." WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:54, 5 May 2025 (UTC)
- I think this information, if included, should be framed this way: "a popular podcast promoted FC claiming that the children were telepathic." DolyaIskrina (talk) 06:03, 8 October 2025 (UTC)
- I have been thinking that a sentence or maybe two might be appropriate. Something like "Some parents have even claimed that studies showing that the messages come from the parent instead can be explained by their disabled child having magic powers, such as telepathy." WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:54, 5 May 2025 (UTC)
Recent edits
[edit]See Wikipedia:Fringe theories/Noticeboard#Facilitated communication. tgeorgescu (talk) 06:06, 8 October 2025 (UTC)
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