I Have A New Favourite Word, But I Won't Say It

So here's the thing: I can't speak, but most of the rest of the collective can. Don't get me wrong this is good! I hate talking and don't want to start, being physically (psychologically?) unable is just a bonus 😁.

The problem has actually been finding a term to acually describe this, Mute and Selectively Mute more describe a whole body experience, so it kinda doesn't work? Nonverbal definitely does not work, nonverbal specifically means when an autistic person hasn't learned to speak! Sure, I never learned to speak but the body overall did so I don't count it. It annoys me that the term is now mostly used for anyone having speech loss or even just being shy, as popularised by TikTok people (derogatory).

Yesterday, Vel stumbled across the answer on Pluralpedia as hit-or-miss as that webbed-site is and found what immediately became my new favourite word: Nonvox!
It describes a headmate who is entirely unable to speak, whether the body can or cannot. Like me! ^w^
Other terms exist with the -vox suffix to cover pretty much the whole spectrum, like semivox, and voxflux. These terms were created specifically to avoid using -verbal, -speaking, and -vocal terms, all of which refer to permanent states and have been requested by the respective communities to not be used to refer to headmates.

THIS IS AWESOME!!! This is exactly it! It describes the situation perfectly! It's a cool sounding and concise Latin word, which will make it easier for the lay person to understand! So yea this label has made me really happy, I think Umbra will get some good use out of this too 😊.

Coincidentally, all of this happened after Vel convinced me that I'm not evil for wanting to learn sign language. Even if I'm not deaf or "truly mute" it'd be a weird thing to gatekeep. I don't know why I was so hard on myself, internalised ableism?
So we've agreed to learn one together, we chose American Sign Language (ASL) as we:

• already learned to fingerspell it some years ago
• despite living in the UK, all our friends are american
• I do prefer how ASL has more one-handed signs than British Sign Language

Unrelated closing note: currently considering changing my pronouns from it/she to it/its.