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.
I’ve been blogging since 2008. My primary aim remains as it was when I started out, 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. My primary focus is on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)
Back in September 2023 a friend, Joanna Holmes (aka MummyvsAAC) and I got together to speak at the annual Communication Matters conference in Leeds. We had met at the 2022 conference and immediately discovered we had a lot in common. We had shared views about AAC users, communication partners and...
I was chuffed to make it into the Disability Power 100. This is the annual list of the most influential disabled people in the UK. It was such an honour to discover that I'd been nominated as a top 10 finalist in the community advocate category for 2023. This surprise...
Speaking up for ourselves, so we can achieve what we want in life, is a skill everyone needs to learn, not just those of us with disabilities. At its simplest level self-advocacy is being able to communicate our needs, but we all know it isn’t always as easy as it...
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...
I’m sharing here some of the events that interest me or where I've an active part to play. If you are here then I hope they may also interest you.
The annual Communication Matters conference will be held in Leeds, UK between Sunday 8 September and Tuesday 10 September 2024. The conference theme will focus...
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.
September in England marks the return to school, colleges and higher educational establishments for a new academic year. It might feel daunting to have an AAC user in your sessions. Here are my 9 top tips around access and communication...
I’ve read a few things recently about other people’s fatigue. At times I can see similarities to my own lack of energy, at other times I find little in common. We are all different, and so the solutions to dealing...
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...
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