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)
We hear and read daily about how the government wants disabled people to work. This week we know they are not valuing nearly a quarter of the population. The move to replace the Minister of State for disabled people with a junior minister makes this clear. Long-term strategy? Downgrading the...
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.
TechAbility is an Assistive Technology support service who aim to improve outcomes for people with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities in education and adult care. Funded...
Annually October is international AAC awareness raising month. For 2024 there is an inaugral online conference with over 90 diverse speakers. For more information visit https://conference.isaac-online.org/
Discover Inclusion is hosting the Access to Academic Learning Conference throughout October. The aim is to support educators in primary and secondary schools in creating...
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.
Allies are essential for us all, and they can come from every part of life. A great ally wants to ensure they are inclusive of you. But more than this the best allies want to create a level playing field...
First, there was Stephen Hawking, the physicist. Then came Lee Ridley, comedian, also known as ‘Lost Voice Guy’. Now we have Rob Burrow, an ex-rugby league professional and an advocate for motor neurone disease (MND). It is heart-warming to see...
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....
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