Lief O’Neill, an 22 year old autistic young man who is non-speaking but types to communicate needs funds to start a business making temporary tattoos of keyboards and other communication tools for others like him and their communication partners. At age 10, he became the first non-speaking autistic person to ever receive a heart transplant and one of the main reasons he was chosen to break this barrier was because he could type to communicate. For this reason he never wanted any non-speaker to be denied the chance to be taught literacy skills and learn to point at letters to communicate. When his parents realized that all that was standing between them and communication with him anytime anywhere without the expense and challenges of electronic devices was simply letters they both got real tattoos of a QWERTY letterboard on the inside of their arms. Some of his most beloved careproviders followed suit.

Over the decade since we all realized what a powerful and necessary tool this is for all non-speaking humans to have access to. It is both a functional communicaiton tool and also a sign of solidarity with the non-speaking or minimally speaking community. Communication tools are often difficult or inconvenient to have on hand at all times and not everyone can commit to a real tattoo so he wants to make traditional temporary tattoos, ones made of natural jagua ink that last weeks at a time and printed sunsleeves. He also dreams of giving other kids the chance to participate in this business in a myriad of ways. He needs funds to purchase the equipment to print them and for the website build and other foundational costs of a start up business. Much work has been done already but he needs more funding to continue and get to market.