There have been instances in which a person, through facilitated communication (FC)—a scientifically discredited technique that attempts to aid communication by people with autism or other communication disabilities who are non-verbal—seems to disclose experiences of abuse. Often, the alleged abuse is sexual and contains "extensive, explicit, pornographic details". While facilitators are taught to expect their communication partners to reveal sensitive, personal issues, researchers find that facilitators involved in this type of case mistakenly suspect abuse by family members or others.

In 1993, Frontline "Prisoners of Silence" featured the story of Gerry Gherardi of New Hampshire, who was accused, through FC-generated messages, of sexually abusing his son. Despite protestations of innocence, Gherardi was forced to stay away from his home for six months. The charges were dropped when court-ordered double-blind tests showed that Gherardi's son could not write. In the same year, Bernard Rimland reported in a New York Times article that he knew of about 25 cases in which families were accused through facilitated communication of sexually abusing their children.

By 1995, there were sixty known cases, with untold numbers of others settled without reaching public visibility. Since then, the number of cases continues to increase. In addition to accusations of sexual abuse, facilitators, reportedly, have developed sexual feelings for their communication partners, and, relying on FC for consent, initiated sexual and physical contact with people in their care, raising serious ethical and legal problems for facilitators, protective service agencies, law enforcement, court officials, educators, and family members alike.

1990s

"Carla" case About the same time FC was gaining popularity in the United States in the early 1990s, the Guardianship and Administration Board in Melbourne, Australia, was reviewing a landmark case involving allegations of sexual abuse and facilitated communication. The 1990 case involved a 28-year-old woman (pseudonym "Carla") with severe disabilities who was removed, twice, from her home by state authorities because of messages obtained through FC that she was being sexually abused at home.

Nine facilitators, including Rosemary Crossley, one of Australia's leaders in FC movement, over a course of nine months, obtained messages through FC that allegedly involved incest, rape and other sexual depredations. Crossley had assessed Carla in August 1988, indicating that her ability to spell was very good, and expressing amazement at the extent of Carla's vocabulary and perceptions during the evaluation. Officials removed Carla from the home when one of the facilitators, through another facilitated session, indicated Carla threatened suicide if she was not removed from her home.

Following a 15-month custody battle, the Guardianship Board accepted extensive evidence from psychological and other tests that agreed that the woman had a severe intellectual disability, was unable to differentiate between letters of the alphabet, and could not have authored the messages. Double-blind testing, conducted by psychologists Alan Hudson and Beatrice Melita, demonstrated that the only meaningful responses obtained through FC were when the facilitator knew the questions being asked of Carla. The court determined that Carla and her family were "victims" and admonished the facilitators: "the one step that would have prevented the case occurring—prior verification that the woman could communicate with facilitated communication—had not been done." All charges were dropped and custody was granted to Carla's family.

Storch case In 1991, Mark Storch, of Shokan, New York, was charged with abusing his daughter after the Department of Social Services received reports that his daughter, Jenny, a 14-year-old with autism, had, through facilitated communication, disclosed recurring sexual assaults, including 200 vaginal and anal rapes. Storch's wife, Laura, was charged with neglect. Despite no physical evidence of abuse, inconsistencies in the facilitated testimony, and questions about the facilitator's troubling personal history, officials pressed charges, which led to a costly, 10-month legal battle. The case was dropped because FC lacked sufficient testing and acceptance in the scientific community.

Bennett Leventhal, head of pediatric psychology at the University of Chicago, testified in the Storch's defense, saying:

Wheaton case In 1992, the parents of Betsy Wheaton, a 16-year-old nonspeaking person with autism, were, through facilitated communication, falsely accused of sexually abusing their daughter. The facilitator, Janyce Boynton, who was trained in FC at the University of Maine, interpreted Betsy's hitting and scratching during facilitated sessions as reenactments of abuses occurring at home. Boynton reported these incidents to the state's Department of Health and Human Services, and Betsy and her brother were removed from the home. The brother was also implicated. The parents' attorney hired Howard Shane of Boston Children's Hospital to conduct testing of authorship. It was determined through double blind testing that Boynton, not Betsy, was authoring the messages obtained through facilitation. Boynton, unlike many other facilitators who have undergone testing, accepted the results, stopped using FC, and persuaded the school system to stop using FC as well.

Looking back on her training, Boynton could see that it had been inadequate. She had not worked with anyone who was nonverbal, and she was pronounced "good to go" after only two days of mostly lectures. She knew that disabled people suffer relatively high levels of abuse, was taught that there was a strong affinity between patient and facilitator, so, she has stated, "you get this sense in your head that you're the only one this person trusts... And then you get overly protective and you have that thought in your head that maybe they've been abused." She describes the process of facilitating as "everything happening at once.... you're so distracted by other things." Until she was tested, she fully believed that she was protecting Betsy. Howard Shane states: "You're expected to believe (the person has been abused) and then, bam, the accusation happens."

Of the Wheaton case, psychologist James T. Todd wrote:

Cracchiolo case In 1993, Gregory Cracchiolo, who taught students with severe developmental disabilities in Whittier, California, was accused of sexually assaulting four of his students, with facilitated communication being the only source of evidence. The student making the allegation was unable to communicate by speech to verify these claims. Cracchiolo lost his job and faced 11 felony counts of forcible sodomy and forced oral copulation. He faced a maximum sentence of 88 years in prison. While authorship testing was not done, the charges were dropped after a month, because FC lacked the scientific evidence to determine its efficacy. The prosecutor continued to believe the abuses occurred. Cracchiolo blamed the case for ending his teaching career.

Lehman case In 1993, David and Jean Lehman of Newmarket, Ontario, were charged with sexually abusing their 20-year-old son, Derek, based solely on evidence obtained through facilitated communication. At birth, Derek had been diagnosed with autism and severe intellectual disability and, at the time of the allegations, lived in a group home. He was not able to speak, but could use two hand signals: "please" and "toilet". He was not able to recognize numbers beyond three, and was not aware of his own sex, or that of others.

During authorship testing, conducted by Mary Konstantareas, psychology professor at the University of Guelph, Derek was not able to name an object that he had seen but his facilitators had not. After a year-long court battle, the charges were proven unfounded and dropped. The ordeal left the Lehmans in debt, nearly losing their business, and drove David Lehman to nearly committing suicide. The Lehmans filed an $8.5 million civil suit and accepted a settlement for an undisclosed amount. They were also granted custodianship of their son.

John Pinnington case In 1998, middle-aged John Pinnington changed careers to focus on the care and treatment of individuals with autism (having been inspired by his experiences with his own autistic step-son). After several years of work in the field, Pinnington was hired by Thomley Hall College, a specialist facility for students aged 16–25 with autism, where he was promoted to the position of Deputy Headmaster in 2004. At the time of his promotion the college was aware that between the years 2000 and 2002, two young adults with autism had accused Pinnington of sexual abuse. Those charges, made during facilitated communication sessions, had been investigated by both the college and police and found to be without foundation. In 2005, Pinnington learned that a third young man with autism had made an abuse allegation. Again, the charges were made during a facilitated communication session.

Despite the dismissal of all charges by police investigators, laws in the UK required that a record of the allegations remain in Pinnington's police record, and the charges came to light later in 2005 when a new set of background checks were mandated by a charity that had taken over the college. Despite the lack of any independent evidence of the abuse, fact that all of the allegations had been made during FC sessions, and that one of the facilitators was the mother of an accuser, Pinnington was fired from his position by the charity.

Pinnington was unsuccessful in his attempts to have the abuse allegations expunged from his record, and in 2008, in a controversial landmark decision, his appeal to the High Court was denied, even though the court agreed that there was "strong doubt" about the veracity of the allegations. The baseless accusations, made during FC sessions, permanently ended Pinnington's career as an educator and so seriously damaged his reputation that he has been unable to find employment of any kind.

England case In 1999, a 50-year-old businessman from the south of England was accused, through FC, of abusing his 17-year-old son. The son, reportedly, had severe autism and epileptic seizures and was not able to speak. Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, President of the High Court Family Division, ruled on the first case of its kind in England, saying FC was "dangerous", and should not be used by any UK courts to "back up or dismiss allegations of abuse". She also indicated the court was "entirely satisfied the allegations were unfounded", since there was no evidence that the father or anyone else was a perpetrator, or the abuse had ever occurred.

2000s

Wendrow case In 2007, Julian Wendrow of West Bloomfield, Michigan, was charged with sexually abusing his daughter and placed in jail for 80 days. His wife, Tali, was accused of severely mentally and emotionally abusing her children, and forced to wear an electronic tether. Their 13-year-old son was also named as a perpetrator. Both children were placed in foster care.

The allegations resulted from messages obtained via FC at school while an aide helped guide the girl's hand. The case was a "virtual rerun" of the 1992 Betsy Wheaton case. When lawyers questioned the girl without the facilitator present, she was unable to answer questions, including "What color is your sweater?" and "Are you a boy or a girl?" The case fell apart due to lack of physical evidence of abuse and facilitated testimony that contained information inconsistent with the Wendrow family, lifestyle and living arrangements: relatives that did not exist, Christian theology attributed to observant Jewish parents, nonexistent rooms and photos.