Birger Sellin

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Birger Sellin (born 1973, Berlin) was the first functionally non-verbal person with autism to become a published author in Germany. His first published work, largely poetry, was entitled I Don't Want to Be Inside Me Anymore: Messages from Autistic Mind and soon became translated in languages worldwide with him being a contributing author in other publications since. Birger became the centre of often volatile controversy about the use of facilitated communication as a valid form of communication for functionally non-verbal people with autism. This supported form of typed communication had been already used for years by some people in the Cerebral Palsy population with severely impaired speech, but was considered invalid when used by functionally non-verbal people with autism on the basis that functionally non-verbal people in the autistic population were generally assumed mentally retarded so profound writings by such people were considered impossible. Since the more recent publication of works by other functionally non-verbal authors with autism who progressed from facilitated communication to independent typing, the technique is beginning to be more widely accepted for this group. In this sense, Birger was a pioneer who braved the publication of his typed communication and in doing so paved the way for later functionally non-verbal authors with autism worldwide.