All persons, regardless of the extent or severity of their disabilities have a basic right to affect, through communication, the conditions of their own existence. Beyond this general right, there are a number of specific communication rights that should be assured in all daily interactions and interventions involving persons who have severe disabilities.

• The right to request desired objects, actions, events, and persons, and to express personal preferences or feelings
• The right to be offered choices and alternatives
• The right to reject or refuse undesired objects, events, or actions, including the right to decline or reject all offered choices
• The right to request, and be given, attention from and interaction with another person
• The right to request feedback or information about a state, an object, a person, or an event of interest
• The right to active treatment and intervention efforts that can enable people with severe disabilities to communicate with above messages in whatever modes and as effectively and efficiently as their specific abilities will allow
• The right to have communicative acts acknowledged and responded to, even when the intent of these acts cannot be fulfilled by the responder
• The right to have access to any needed augmentative and alternative communication devices at all times, and to have those devices in good working order
• The right to environmental contexts, interactions, and opportunities that expect and encourage persons with disabilities to participate as full communicative partners with other people, including peers
• The right to be informed about the people, things, and events in one's immediate environment
• The right to be communicated with in a manner that recognizes and acknowledges the inherent dignity of the person being addressed, including the right to be part of communication exchanges about the individual that are conducted in her or her presence
• The right to be communicated with in ways that are meaningful and understandable