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
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 […]
When accessibility is lip service
One of the activities at Appa me ltd is teaching. We teach hearing people British Sign Language (BSL) to foster communication and accessibility between hearing and Deaf communities. There already plenty of issues surrounding this, such as lack of the current lack of a GCSE in BSL (see Independent article) or even the recognition of […]
The Sound Shirt
A Tactile Symphony for the Deaf Music is one of the hardest things to make accessible to deaf people, but that’s not stopped the people at CuteCircuit trying. And they have come up with the Sound Shirt. The Sound Shirt 2.0 is a garment featuring 30 actuators that express physical movements in the fabric of […]
Brexit, Deaf & Disabled people and our Welfare State
Brexit: What does it mean for Deaf and Disabled people living in the Welfare State? by Michaela Aitken Today I received some disability news that reminded me we are living in unprecedented times; another disability provider has had to close its doors due to funding withdrawal. Its clients and customers now left with a solitary […]
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 […]
Funky Finger Weekly Baby Group
An Event on behalf of James Wolfe Primary School in Greenwich, London Are you a deaf parent, or are you a parent of a deaf baby? If so this group, run by the specialist Centre for Deaf Children at James Wolfe Primary School is for you. Come along and share your experiences as a […]
2017 General Election and Accessibility
The 2017 General Election is fast approaching and the parties have all published their manifestos. So how do they score on accessibility?; Conservative Party: Green Party: Labour Party: Liberal Democrats: UKIP: Scottish National Party: Main presentation: PDF with text and images Main Presentation: Webpage Main Presentation: Webpage Main Presentation: Webpage Main presentation: PDF with […]
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 […]
The Benefits of Second Language Learning (Particularly Sign Language) On the Developing Mind
The benefits of second language learning on a developing mind is talked about a lot. I think it is self-evident that many, many parents want to give their child any edge they can. There is a lot of evidence (both correlated and tested) that learning a second language is enormously beneficial to mental development, particularly for children. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Yes I Can
appa were delighted to see the new ‘Yes I Can’ advert for the Rio Paralympic Games 2016? The advert delivered beautifully to highlight the prospective Paralympians performing with grace, power and skill. Ok, as an allegedly abled bodied person I can assure you I am no threat to the current UK Olympic roster. I can […]
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 […]