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.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
