Friday Announcements – 03 October 2025

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1. Discount on AAC Apps from AssistiveWare
2. Version 1.9.3 of Spoken Just Released – Plus 50% Off Spoken Premium
3. 1Voice Birthday Celebrations at West Midlands AAC Funday

News from Communication Matters
4. CM AAC User Focus Group
5. Seeking Project Lead for AAC QSS Update
6. ‘Inspiring New Ways of Thinking About Access to Technology for People with Intellectual Disability’ Study Day – Registration Now Open
7. About Friday Announcements

 

1. Discount on AAC Apps from AssistiveWare

From Chetna Palaniappan, AssistiveWare:

Access to AAC is fundamental to AssistiveWare’s mission to make it an effective and accepted means of communication.

To mark AAC Awareness Month and expand access to AAC, we are offering a 50% discount on some of our most popular apps from 8th – 15th October.

 

2. Version 1.9.3 of Spoken Just Released – Plus 50% Off Spoken Premium

From Evan Lauer, Spoken Inc:

Announcing version 1.9.3 of Spoken – Tap to Talk AAC, just released on the App Store and Google Play. Plus, Spoken Premium is 50% off for AAC Awareness Month.

The update includes:

  • A new voice selection menu: You can now choose voices from third-party sources like ElevenLabs, Apple Personal Voice, or your device’s text-to-speech engine.
  • Support for ElevenLabs: By linking your account, you’ll be able to use any of the hundreds of pre-made voices on elevenlabs.io. Plus, you can access ElevenLabs’ instant voice cloning and prompt-based voice design all from within Spoken.
  • Audio tags: By switching to the experimental ElevenLabs model inside Spoken, you can use audio tags (short commands surrounded by brackets like [disappointed], [sarcastic], [laughing], etc.) to influence the tone or delivery of your words. Spoken also gives you a tool to automatically add audio tags to the beginning of all your messages, so you can apply specified traits to everything you say.
  • A remastered app icon for Apple’s Liquid Glass: Users on iOS 26 can customize how the Spoken icon appears on their home screen.

For more details, visit the Spoken blog. And don’t forget, Premium is 50% off until 31st October.

 

3. 1Voice Birthday Celebrations at West Midlands AAC Funday

From Dominic Carroll, 1Voice:

Celebrations continue for the 25th Anniversary of 1Voice! Our third one-day event will take place at the Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH on Saturday 11th October 10am – 4.30pm.

Come and join us for a Family Friendly Funday, to celebrate our special birthday. Booking is now open at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/1voice.

 

4. CM AAC User Focus Group

We are holding our next AAC User focus group on 16th October at 4pm.

CM values the views of AAC users and would like to hear what you think. This meeting will mostly give a chance for feedback to conference.

What did you think of the conference and of the study day?

Did you have a favourite session?

What did you think about the new layout of rooms?

What did you think of the food at conference?

How can we encourage more AAC users to come to conference?

If you would like to be included in the AAC user group and would like a link, please contact:

[email protected].

 

5. Seeking Project Lead for AAC QSS Update

Communication Matters is seeking expressions of interest for an exciting Project Lead role.

This project will update and relaunch our widely recognised AAC Quality Service Standards, ensuring they reflect current policies, practice, and – most importantly – the voices of AAC users, families, and carers.

About the role:

  • Lead the co-production of revised AAC Service Standards
  • Consult with stakeholders and host engagement events
  • Produce updated and accessible versions of the standards
  • Develop a dissemination plan to share across the UK

Details:

  • Project budget: £15,000
  • Duration: Up to 1 year
  • Contract: Independent contractor or secondment

We are looking for someone with experience in AAC/communication disability, project management skills, and a passion for inclusive practice.

Contact the CM office at [email protected] if you are interested in applying for this post with brief details about your experience, suitability for this opportunity, and current employment.

Help us shape the future of AAC services!

 

6. ‘Inspiring New Ways of Thinking About Access to Technology for People with Intellectual Disability’ Study Day – Registration Now Open

21st November 2025, 9.30-4pm, Irwin Mitchell Offices, Temple, London, EC4Y 0AY

Communication Matters are delighted to partner with a range of leading academic and clinical experts in intellectual disability to host this exciting event.

Following on from our previous Study Day in November 2019 (‘Where Next for People with Cognitive Disabilities & Electronic Assistive Technology?), we will offer delegates a range of plenaries and workshops to explore the state of play around existing technology for people with intellectual disability as well as the opportunity to (re)consider how to activate current and future technologies in creative and innovative ways. This is a standalone event and, although drawing on learning from the 2019 event, there is no need for delegates to have attended the previous Study Day to benefit from this one.

Attendance: £100 for non-members, £90 for members and £75 for AAC users/PAs/family members. Lunch and refreshments included.

Learning objectives, full programme and booking details can be found here. Register your place now!

 

7. About Friday Announcements

These ‘Friday Announcements’ comprise weekly product updates, upcoming courses, and supplier news. Please email [email protected] with the item you want to be included by Thursday at 5pm – no more than 200 words (one entry per organisation per week) – and include contact email and/or link so readers can find out further information (no file attachments please).