Rollins Commencement Speech Given by Non-Speaking Autism Student

Rollins College valedictorian Elizabeth Bonker became the first student with non-speaking autism to give a commencement speech to her graduating class Sunday, May 8 at Showalter Field. Her, along with the four other valedictorians, finished strong with a 4.0 GPA.

Ever since she was 15 months old, Bonker hasn’t been able to communicate with her voice like most of the people around her. She had to learn how to use different ways of communication. She first learned how to communicate through a letterboard, then typing.

Using a text-to-speech program, with help from a communication partner holding the keyboard, Bonker used a single finger to type her five minute long speech to a crowd of 529 graduates.

“Each day, I choose to celebrate small victories, and today I’m celebrating a big one with all of you,” Bonker said in her commencement speech, using the text-to-speech program.

She always felt like she was in a ‘silent cage’, but after learning new ways to communicate, she felt like she was ‘freed from the silent cage’.

Bonker graduated Rollins’ College of Liberal Arts with a perfect 4.0 GPA, along with four other valedictorians – Emily Curran, Sofia Frasz, Jessika Linnemeyer and Charles Mellin. They unanimously chose her to give the speech. Along with this achievement she’s also formed her own nonprofit organization called Communication 4 ALL. According to the organization’s website, their mission is to champion efforts to ensure communication is available to all nonspeakers with autism.

“There are 31 million nonspeakers with autism in the world who are locked in a silent cage,” Bonker said. “My life will be dedicated to relieving them from suffering in silence and to giving them voices to choose their own way.”

Bonker’s inspirational speech can be found here.