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’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’...
Due to the pandemic I have been doing a lot of video conferencing with people I normally see in person. In face to face conversations some people understand my speech, and for spontaneity and speed my personal assistant often repeats what I’ve said verbatim. When I use my communication aid...
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 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 re-scheduled from 2020, 2021 and 2022 to 22 and 23 July 2023. Now taking...
Celebrating all that is joyous in the world of Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Save the date! The AAC Awards categories and more details will follow...
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.
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...
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...
Using AAC at home and in the wider community has to be a real goal in my mind. Schools are reactive environments for many children who use AAC, answering questions in the closed context of the lesson. Or maybe making...
Sign up here to receive email notifications of new posts.