Anne McDonald

Anne McDonald (11 January 1961 – 22 October 2010) was a nonverbal Australian woman with cerebral palsy and severe intellectual disability who was one of the first subjects of the scientifically discredited facilitated communication (FC) technique.

""[3] In 1977, when McDonald was 16, Rosemary Crossley claimed that she was able to communicate with her by supporting her upper arm while she selected word blocks and magnetic letters.

In 1979, when McDonald turned eighteen, a habeas corpus action in the Supreme Court of Victoria was commenced against the Health Commission in order to win the right to leave the institution.

[4] Patricia Margaret Minnes, then senior clinical psychologist, Mental Retardation Services of the Health Commission of Victoria, who was present during the psychological testing of McDonald, objected with the following statement: However in my opinion the results of this assessment cannot be considered objectively reliable and valid until such time as Anne is shown to perform at a similar intellectual level under experimentally controlled conditions.

On one occasion McDonald's mother gently held her elbow to type out something very rude about Crossley while watching her daughter's face; she found no reaction.

Psychologists and policy makers have argued facilitated communication is, at best, ineffective wishful thinking, and at worst, actively harmful.

[10][11] McDonald's website maintains that her communication was entirely her own, and that she found it unnecessary and inappropriate to debate the fact further as it had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt to the standards of the Supreme Court.