Shock and sadness at the death of Sean McGovern
Sean McGovern Disability Rights Campaigner and activist, died 6 May 2020.He chaired the Disabled Members Committee for Unite union for 12yrs, representing disabled workers on the executive committee. He was also co-chair of the Trade Union Congress TUC and Branch Secretary for London’s 5 Remploy factories. He was a well known and highly respected campaigner […]
May you live in interesting times
Have you heard of the curse, “May you live in interesting times”. An old English curse falsely attributed to the Chinese philosopher, Confucius.These are interesting times. Times, when we look back to the Brexit crisis and think of it as the good old days. We could introspectively consider it preparation for the anxiety and uncertainty […]
Help for Lockdown Sufferers
Do you remember the first pandemic film? Not the 2007 Will Smith version the original Omega Man, Charlton Heston (candidly the original was with Vincent Price, but I didn’t see that one), who is the only human left in the world following an epidemic. The rest of humanity were either turned into zombies or had […]
No BSL for Boris at Summit
Boris Johnson refuses deaf people access to his presentation at the Africa UK Investment Summit 2020
Ordrs
If you have certain disabilities then some day to day activities can be pretty hard to do. Shopping, in particular, can be quite a challenge. Wheelchair accessibility can be poor, communication with shopkeepers can be limited for the Deaf, searching shelves a barrier to the blind. There are delivery services run by supermarkets that allow […]
Developing British Sign Language
BSL is living, growing and evolving better than it has ever done and the lives of Deaf Britons are more empowered than ever.
Love is for All
It’s said that the Eskimo language has a lot of words for “snow”. In some respect they do, words for snow on the ground, falling snow, drifting snow. When it comes to Love, in English we have that one word. The Greeks had many, 4 of which are; eros a sexual or romantic love, philia […]
Whorlton Hall
A Statement by APPA BBC Panorama recently aired a documentary about Whorlton Hall, a specialist hospital for the treatment of vulnerable adults. The torture that the staff inflicted on these patients angered and sickened us. The Care Quality Commission failed in it duty to protect the vulnerable patients it is responsible for through failing to […]
Spring is on its Way
What does it mean for You? by Michaela Aitken What a wonderful day its bright out, my coat stays on the hanger as I walk my dog Dfa around our local park, its 15 degrees with some light fluffy clouds. March has given us an insight as to how glorious spring and summer can be […]
DWP Raises Cap on Access to Work Payments
In March 2015 the Access to Work (AtW) payments scheme was capped for induvidials at 1.5 times the National Average Salary. This left Deaf and Disabled people without the full support they wanted as the cap was too restrictive. However, the cap did bring down the cost for the more expensive support services. The Cap. DWP have […]
Disabled Persons Railcard
Do you know about the Disabled Persons Railcard? It provides great travel discounts for you and a companion. If you have a disability, for £20 a year you could get yourself a Disabled Persons Railcard. This entitles you to 1/3 off adult rail fares for travel on the National Rail network in Great Britain. It also gets […]
PIP suffers blow on mental health at High Court
UPDATE: The PIP saga rumbles on with the Government now committed to reviewing 1.6 million claims at a cost of £3.7 Billion by 2023. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42862904 It seems to have gone somewhat unnoticed but the much-maligned Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has lost a significant case at the High Court over mental health issues. On the 19th of January they […]
Philip Hammond, Why Blame the Disabled?
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Productivity fell this year between March and June by 0.1 per cent despite people working for longer hours, the ONS found. Chancellor Philip Hammond had this to say; “It is almost certainly the case that by increasing participation in the workforce, including far higher levels of participation by marginal groups and very high levels of engagement […]
Communicating with People who have Hearing Loss
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Some general Advice for clear communication for people with hearing loss. A small amount of thought and effort in communicating with deaf and hard of hearing people can make a huge difference. For Sign Language Users whose main link to the world is visual, it is helpful to use: Some basic signs and […]
MidlandsAbility
MidlandsAbility Improving Workplace Opportunity for those with Disabilities Our director Imran Umar had the pleasure of attending the MidlandsAbility Network Launch at KPMG in Birmingham. MidlandsAbility is an exciting new network which aims to increase confidence in recruiting, developing and retaining employees with a disability. MidlandsAbility is made up of a core group of Midlands […]
A Simple Intro to BSL Grammar.
Having read our previous article on how to learn languages let’s have a look at some useful ideas for learning British Sign Language (BSL). In English you would say something like; “I made some pancakes” But in BSL it would be more like; “Pancakes I made” In a language, the sentences (clauses) have a specific […]
A Guide to Learning a Language – In Theory
You may have heard of Ted Talks – you maybe an avid follower of new speakers or it’s something we are introducing to you, in essence TED talks help spread brilliant ideas, findings, knowledge. For us this talk was of particular interest as well as 9.6 million other viewers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0yGdNEWdn0 If you don’t have time […]
The Great Appa Bake Off: Patisserie
As some of you may be aware there’s a rather popular TV show on right now, The Great British Bake Off. We thought it was a great opportunity to start The Great Appa Bake Off. Every week will we be baking something new and exciting in line with the programs themes. Each week the bakes will be judged and […]
The Great Appa Bake-Off: Pastry
As some of you may be aware there’s a rather popular TV show on right now, The Great British Bake Off. We thought it was a great opportunity to start The Great Appa Bake Off. Every week will we be baking something new and exciting in line with the programs themes. Each week the bakes will be judged and […]
The Great Appa Bake-Off: Cake
As some of you may be aware there’s a rather popular TV show on right now, The Great British Bake Off. We thought it was a great opportunity to start The Great Appa Bake Off. Every week will we be baking something new and exciting in line with the programs themes. Each week the bakes will be judged and […]
The Great Appa Bake-Off: Bread
As some of you may be aware there’s a rather popular TV show on right now, The Great British Bake Off. We thought it was a great opportunity to start The Great Appa Bake Off. Every week will we be baking something new and exciting in line with the programs themes. Each week the breads will be judged […]
ISO9001- Laura Gilby – Teamleader
Laura Gilby – Team Leader appa me ltd appa me | appa life | appa training | appa fitness | appa kids By achieving ISO9001 we have now joined over a million different companies across 170 countries in complying with the requirements of a quality management system. The quality management principles include a strong […]
ISO9001 – Lea-Ann Penaluna – Team Leader
Lea-Ann Penaluna – Team Leader appa me ltd appa me | appa life | appa training | appa fitness | appa kids Introduction I first became involved with ISO 9001 June 2015, formatting and referencing the in house approved documents to then be linked to the Document Log. A simple task which then led to […]
ISO9001 – Kyla Aitken – Operations Director
Kyla Aitken – Operations Director appa me ltd appa me | appa life | appa training | appa fitness | appa kids What’s in a Name? ISO has a different acronyms in different languages, so adopted the short form ISO, derived from the Greek isos – meaning equal appa as a company stands by its […]
Public Shaming – Shifting Perspectives
Public Shaming – Shifting Perspectives Is Social Media the best method in which to raise awareness? appa looks into a recent case of mistaken perception and the immediate negative implications it can have for disabled and Deaf people in the wrong hands. You may have seen the news this week when a well-known rapper, ‘50 […]
Curing Deafness with Genetic Engineering
Curing Deafness with Genetic Engineering News on methods to treat deafness and hearing loss waxes and wanes, and when the news includes the word “genetic” the clamor waxes stronger. Since news came out about trials for a genetic cure that started in October 2014 the headlines keep resurfacing. So where are we at? Firstly it […]
Blog of a Support Worker: Rhys Farrugia
Bus Drivers! When I was at the youthful age of 5, I was asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” As bold as brass, ambitiously and confidently, I replied with “Bus Driver!” At the time, I obviously didn’t envisage the unsociable hours; London congestion and faulty Oyster card readers. 20 years […]
Blog of a Support Worker: Bernadette Travers
Love what you do – Blog from one of our interpreters at appa Life is full of ups and downs. I don’t mean to sound profound and dramatic, I mean it in a casual sense…let me explain! Some mornings upon hearing what can feel like the sound of hell (otherwise known as my alarm), I […]
Blog of a Support Worker: Robyn Pace
My ambition and dream job in life is to become a Physiotherapy Assistant; I recently completed my degree at University as a Sport Scientist, and with no professional experience behind me appa gave me the opportunity to work with them as a Support Worker. A support worker works along the same lines as a Physio in […]