Unveiled

& Presuming Competence Panel

Venue: Astra Hall, UCD Student Centre                 5:00pm - 6:00pm

Please Note: This performance and script contains depictions of internalised and professional ableism.

‘Tingles. Tickles. Ants crawling through the veins. Then suddenly a shooting pain. Then nothing…How am I going to make them see that I am in here?’ 

Soul is desperate. Trapped in a body that won’t cooperate; that wants to, but can’t listen, Soul feels lost, alone and misunderstood. Knowing the only way to be heard is for them to work together, Soul issues a desperate plea to Body.

Based on his own experiences as a non-speaker, Max Whelan’s brilliant, searing debut play brims with humour and heart. Unveiled is unapologetically political, challenging assumptions and demanding a new approach to communication and education.

Directed by Al Bellamy, performed by Eleanor Walsh and Nathan Patterson, with sound design by Carl Kennedy. Produced with the support of Cork Opera House, Neurofestivity, Disrupt, Neuroconvergence and Jody O’Neill.

Unveiled will be followed by a panel on “Presuming Competence” with Adrienne Murphy, Caoimh Connolly Murphy, Max Whelan, Anna Lechleiter and Eleanor Walsh.


Panellists

Max Whelan (He/Him)

Max Whelan is a 24 year old nonspeaker who has been on quite a journey over the last few years. He, in his own words, had no effective means of communication until he was 19 when his Dad came across S2C (Spell to Communicate) on a chance encounter with a user of this simple methodology. His life changed in an amazing way and he would like to share that change. Using S2C he has :

  • Communicated! His voice has been heard.

  • Proven his diagnosis of significant intellectual disability to be incorrect.

  • Explored his creativity writing poems and stories.

  • Written the lyrics to a song that will shortly be performed on television.

  • Participated in Neuroconvergence 2024 – He took part in a discussion showcasing various types of communication aids.

  • Been a keynote presenter at Motormorphosis 2025 (the biggest conference for nonspeakers in the US).

  • Participated in ‘The Assembly’, Virgin Media 1.

  • Written a play – ‘Unveiled’ – which he is now anxious to see performed.

  • A small excerpt from ‘Unveiled’ was performed at the S2C Summit Ireland in May 2025 followed by a Q&A.

Eleanor Walsh (She/Her)

Eleanor Walsh (she/her) is a performer, writer, and an autism and disability advocate. Recent credits include Chronically Hopeful (Musici Ireland),Grace (Graffiti Theatre Company), Yellow (Jody O’Neill), Daughter of God (Asylum Productions), and What I (Don't) Know About Autism (Abbey Theatre). Her first play is currently in development with Barnstorm Theatre Company and she also consults on Relaxed Performance and autistic representation and inclusion. Eleanor is featured in "Be Inspired! Young Irish People Changing the World" by Sarah Webb, published by O'Brien Press.

Adrienne Murphy (She/Her)

I'm an AuDHD writer, editor, and Spell to Communicate (S2C) Practitioner (www.S2CwithAdrienne). S2C is a revolutionary, new-to-Ireland, research-backed communication method, certified through the International Association for Spelling as Communication (www.i-asc.org). I teach nonspeaking, minimally-speaking, and unreliably-speaking dyspraxic neurodivergent adults and children the motor skill of accurately pointing at letter boards and keyboards. 

My young adult son, Caoimh Connolly Murphy, is one Ireland’s first autistic nonspeakers to be liberated into full expression of his thoughts through spelling to communicate. I taught Caoimh the motor skill of accurate intentional letter-pointing through daily practice over an 18-month period when he was 11-12 years old.


Caoimh Connolly Murphy (He/Him)

Caoimh Connolly Murphy is a 22-year-old autistic nonspeaking writer. Caoimh was deemed by professionals to be "severely intellectually disabled" as a young child, unable to understand anything more than very basic language. Caoimh overturned this diagnosis when he developed fluent linguistic communication by the age of 12. This occurred after his writer mother, Adrienne Murphy, perceived the real nature of his disability, and spent 18 months teaching him the purposeful motor movement of pointly accurately at letters on a letterboard. 

When Caoimh had the ability to communicate his thoughts, one of the first things he wrote was that he'd learned to read by himself as a toddler; but that no one knew he could read until he'd been deliberately taught to overcome his dyspraxia to the point that he could point accurately at letters, and hence express his erstwhile locked in thoughts.  

Caoimh's writing has appeared in the Irish national newspapers. He is an award-winning poet. Caoimh is currently working on a personal essay commissioned by autistic writer and editor Niamh Garvey, for inclusion in an anthology of essays by other autistic writers, due for publication in 2027.


Anna Lechleiter (She/Her)

With 20 years of experience working with neurodiverse individuals, Anna Lechleiter is the owner and lead Practitioner at PALZ Ireland. Anna is an I-ASC Certified and Registered S2C (Spell To Communicate) Practitioner. Anna teaches nonspeaking, minimally and unreliably speaking individuals with sensory-motor differences the purposeful gross motor movement that enables them to spell out their thoughts and ideas on letter-boards and keyboards.

Anna is a faculty member of I-ASC. She mentors and delivers the training seminars for Practitioners in Training through the I-ASC training program. 

Anna's passion for bringing communication to the non-speaking, neurodiverse community has become her life vocation.