News: Sign Language Interactions

Access to Sign Language Interpreting Video Relay Service for Deafblind Sign Language Users. ContactSCOTLAND-BSL, Scotland’s only nationally funded online British Sign Language/English interpreting video relay service (VRS), delivered by Sign Language Interactions on behalf of the Scottish Government, is proud to announce the service can now be accessed by deafblind BSL users. Deaf BSL users have been using contactSCOTLAND-BSL to contact any of the 140+ public bodies or any of the 1,000’s of Scotland’s third sector organisations by calling through a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet or desktop computer, signing via the camera to the online BSL/English
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Free Getting It Right For Every Child Training for the Deaf Community

The ALLIANCE and SCOD are co-hosting a free GIRFEC training event aimed at parents and carers of the deaf and hard of hearing community. The Getting to Know Getting it Right for Every Child Team are pleased to announce a training session for parents and carers in the deaf community in Scotland. This workshop will take place on Saturday the 21st April from 10am (for 10.30am start) – 2.30pm at the Sense Scotland offices in Glasgow. BSL Interpreters and electronic note takers will be at the workshop. This workshop is aimed at parents and carers of children and young people in the
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AAC Methods

Background People who participate in Sense Scotland support and services have communication support needs due to a combination of: learning and physical disabilities sensory impairment including deafblindness autism complex health care needs mental health needs The Sense Scotland Service Users Consultation Group began meeting in 2004 with a small group of people supported by Sense Scotland. In 2014 it celebrated its tenth year anniversary and re-launched with a new name “Our Voice”, new logo and website. Today there are several regional Our Voice meetings in Aberdeen, Dundee, and Glasgow and recently in North Ayrshire. Our Voice asks people who are
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Skills Development Scotland – Modern Apprenticeships

Scotland’s Modern Apprenticeships (MA) are all about learning while you work – and earning at the same time. At its core, a Modern Apprenticeship is a job like any other. But as well as getting paid, apprentices gain loads of practical work experience as part of a highly structured training programme. At the same time, they work towards a qualification that will really boost their careers. Now there’s a brand new apprenticeship for pupils moving into S5 who want to get a head-start in their career. A Foundation Apprenticeship takes two years to complete, and during this time students spend
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Aspire Consultancy

Established in 1999, Aspire Consultancy is a specialist supplier of assistive technology for vision impairment, dyslexia and voice input solutions with a reputation for providing a high quality advice and training service. Based in York, Aspire Consultancy serve corporate, educational and private clients across the UK. Telephone Training: Aspire now provides telephone training on all major access software systems over the telephone. Price: £25 per hour or 5 sessions for £100. For more information, please visit: http://www.aspire-consultancy.co.uk/
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Making written web content accessible using text readers

By Aurora Betony Following ‘Writing for a Dyslexic Audience’, I’ve written a couple of guides on text readers. Text readers are software programs that read written text out loud.  They are also known as ‘Text-to-speech technology’ or TTS.  Some of the programs can do other things too, like customise the appearance of the text or make audio recordings.  So they are very useful for anyone who finds reading difficult. Text readers can either be built into websites / blogs or downloaded onto a device or USB stick.  So if you want to make your website or blog more dyslexia-friendly, you
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Dyslexia Alert Cards by Aurora Betony

Dyslexia Alert Cards By Aurora Betony Dyslexia Scotland is piloting the Dyslexia Alert Card shown below I think it will: help dyslexic people to ask for the help they need help dyslexic people and others communicate successfully with each other raise dyslexia awareness What does the card say on it? that you have dyslexia some things you might need help with that the person reading it should ask you how to help you details of Dyslexia Scotland’s helpline and website. How I use the card The card is the size of a credit card so I carry it around with me
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We need to move forward from a negative medical model definition for dyslexia

The following blog is by Stephen McCue. Hi hope you are all feeling fab out there. We need to move past a medical model definition of dyslexia that tells us we are broken. A definition that tells us we as dyslexics are the problem.It’s a model that sees us being segregated, marginalized and denied access to an education together with non dyslexics in an inclusive learning environment. It’s our education system that fails dyslexics not being dyslexic itself. We need to nurture not remediate.  We need teachers in every classroom trained to enable us to learn. That’s why I support and
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Blog: Writing for a Dyslexic Audience

The following blog is by Aurora Betony.  I am a dyslexic adult.  I write self-help resources for dyslexic adults.  My newest resource is a guide on how to write dyslexia-inclusive material.  This guide is not about how to design a dyslexia-inclusive document e.g. size of font, typeface, line spacing.  There’s already plenty of good guidance available on that[1].  My guide is about how to make the language of a written document accessible for dyslexic people.  My guide is in 2 sections: Plain English e.g. sentence length, word length, choice of vocabulary. Other aspects of language and style such as figures
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Augmentative and Alternative Communication

CALL Scotland has developed five short online learning modules for people who would like to learn more about augmentative and alternative communication. Click here to find out more infromation about the modules
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