ACOLUG – Augmentative Communication Online Users Group Diane Bryen (Temple University) and Tracey Rackensperger (University of Georgia)

ACOLUG is an international Listserv of people who use AAC and families of young children who use AAC. It provides both a "virtual AAC community" and a link between individuals who use AAC and the RERC.

Founded and sponsored by the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, ACOLUG has become a virtual community for those who rely on AAC. While not the primary focus of ACOLUG, other interested stakeholders (e.g., university students, practitioners, policymakers, and manufacturers) often join as active members or simply as observers. In its second decade, there are more than 750 subscribers from almost every English-speaking country in the world who post an average of 250 messages each month. In addition, more than 100 students from 8 universities have subscribed to ACOLUG and have learned important lessons about AAC devices and the individuals who use them.

ACOLUG’s mission is to provide a forum for AAC users to connect, support, and learn from each other. However, with funding from the RERC, ACOLUG has also become an effective forum for disseminating information about the work of the RERC on Communication Enhancement. Also, for the past 10 years, ACOLUG has been a place where paid staff and interns who use AAC are liaisons disseminating the often technical work of the RERC in user-friendly language to members of the ACOLUG community. Through this remote employment opportunity, interns who use AAC have learned how to be effective liaisons between the RERC and individuals who rely on AAC. Staff and interns include: Tracy Rackensperger, Ami Profeta, Kate May, and Tom Reed.

ACOLUG is available 24 hours each day and 365 days each year. As a result of its asynchrony, subscribers can check postings and respond at their convenience without the typical constraints of slow production usually experienced by individuals who use AAC and their communication partners. To subscribe to ACOLUG, all you need is a computer with an internet connection. If you send and receive email, you are ready to subscribe to ACOLUG. Just visit http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/acolug.html and click on the third link “join or leave the list.”

ACOLUG is NOT a research site, nor is it a place to recruit subjects for research studies. If you wish to inform members of ACOLUG about a research opportunity, you may post a paragraph briefly describing your study with a link to a website with further details about participation.

For more information, contact Diane Nelson Bryen at  

Knowledge Transfer

Presentations: Bryen, D.N., Chung, Y., & Segalman, B. (2009). Depression, social isolation, and ACOLUG, Pittsburgh Employment Conference, August, 7th, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Publications: Bryen, D.N., Chung, Y., & Segalman, B. (2009). Depression, social isolation, and ACOLUG. In P. Formica, R. Conti, & S. Osgood (Eds.) Proceedings of the Biennial Pittsburgh Employment Conference for Augmented Communicators, Pittsburgh: SHOUT PRESS, 13-20.