Living life to the full celebrating cerebral palsy, speech and hearing impairments and using Augmentative and Alternative Communication AAC
Living life to the full celebrating cerebral palsy, speech and hearing impairments and using Augmentative and Alternative Communication AAC
I believe that dreaming, whether awake or asleep, comes from a place deep inside each of us.
Sparked by passion, unconscious wishes or a desire to achieve something special in life.
The aim was to share my personal views, experiences and opinions with specific spotlight areas relating to my lived experience of cerebral palsy (CP), dysarthria which creates speech and eating challenges, and a hearing impairment.
I'd been toying with the idea of an A to Z of AAC for months. Suddenly October seemed the right time to share my thoughts as it was international AAC awareness month. I've published every day on social media, mainly Twitter with what's below, and with a bit more explanation...
I’ve spent several years using spoon theory to effectively explain to others my physical energy and fatigue levels. However, I realise that spoon theory could also be adapted to self-management of my speech production. There is a definite link between my physical energy and fatigue levels and my speech production...
Recently I had a very interesting conversation, which set me thinking. I’m 28 and I’m only now finding my feet when it comes to confidently communicating ‘verbally’. By this, I mean communicating with those who don’t know me, or who haven't met an AAC user before. I’ve always put myself...
When I started out employing personal assistants at the age of 12, as a family, we considered all of the different titles the role may be called from carer to support worker and personal support assistant. Speaking to friends who already had paid team members we settled for ‘personal assistant’...
I’m sharing here events that interest me or where I have an active part to play. As we get back to normal some are digital, but others are in-person events. Stay safe everyone.
The one and only Communication Matters International AAC Conference, once again in Leeds from 10/9/23 to 12/9/23. Call for abstracts now open. For full details...
The International Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) conference re-scheduled from 2020, 2021 and 2022 . Now taking place Monday 24 July to Thursday...
The International Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) pre-conference workshops 22 and 23 July 2023. Now taking place in Cancun, Mexico. For more information...
The re-scheduled ISAAC conference will now take place in 2023. AAC Camp 22/23 July 2023 and Pre-conference workshops 22/23 July 2023. Main conference “Communication Beyond Borders”...
You can read my latest blog here. All my posts are related in some way to my cerebral palsy, my speech impairment which I augment using AAC, and/or my hearing impairment.
There’s been a lot in the press and on social media in recent months about AI for speech. It seems artificial intelligence, might offer benefits for many people with communication impairments. It was a chance remark that made me realise...
On Monday 6 March 2023, Jacob Matthew (Australia) and I had the opportunity to address the 288h UNCRPD committee on communication rights. We were privileged to once more be representing the International Communication Rights Alliance (ICRA). I've always believed what...
Being given all the tools to communicate is brilliant. However, being human there are sometimes unexpected physical and environmental factors that impact our output. Occasionally however hard I try I just don’t seem to be able to make my body...
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