Welcome...
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.
Welcome, I’ve been blogging for over 20 years. My primary aim remains to share my personal views, experiences, and opinions. Specific spotlight areas relate to my lived experience of cerebral palsy (CP) and dysarthria, which creates speech and eating challenges and hearing impairment. My lifelong passion is to empower augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) users to fulfil their own communication potential.
Each year, the Shaw Trust hosts the Disability Power 100. This prestigious event celebrates the 100 most influential disabled people in the UK across 10 categories. All nominees are voted for by a judging panel of their peers making the awards something special. In 2023, I was absolutely blown away...
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...
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.
Full details to follow: Every October sees the AAC community celebrate AAC awareness month. Watch out for the 2025 activities and catch up with previous...
AGOSCI are holding their biennial conference in Adelaide from the 12th to the 15th of March 2025. For more information visit http://www.agosciconference.org.au/
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.
Having ownership of your voice is something we can easily take for granted. We might experience a cold, even have a bout of laryngitis but for the most part when we do speak we sound like ourselves. Our voice is...
October is International AAC Awareness Month. This year, I thought I would share a series of thoughts and prompts about using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Access The top of my list is undoubtedly access. We can have all sorts...
Several people have asked recently for me to share about my accomplishments. Below is a sort of CV including publications, speeches and workshops. It is definitely not fully comprehensive! Published Articles: M, K. (pseudonym) (2005) ‘My Life Story’, Communication Matters...
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