I am honored to announce that I have been welcomed to the BridgingVoice Ambassador program this month. One of my goals early in my ALS diagnosis was to share what I learn along the way to help others navigate this horrible disease. This gives me another platform to do just that.
What is BridgingVoice?
BridgingVoice is a service organization focused on communication for those of us with ALS. Their focus is very hands-on and practical. There are many foundations that provide some resources, but they typically have split personalities – service and research. BridgingVoice is narrowly focused on making communication work for us with free services.
Ensuring No Voice is Lost to ALS
BridgingVoice.org
We help people living with ALS (pALS) maintain their ability to meaningfully communicate with family, caregivers, and medical professionals, no matter the stage of their disease.
They are staffed with speech pathologists, AAC specialists, and technology professionals whose goal is to help us keep our voice. They provide training on the various AAC devices and software we use to communicate like those made by Tobii Dynavox. The team also helps set up and troubleshoot individual solutions. This is incredibly helpful and I love their patience and understanding when they work with us and our caregivers.
BridgingVoice also focuses on eye health. This is such an important issue because so many of us, including me, depend on our eyes to communicate.
As you can see, I am passionate about their mission and the practical help they give us living with ALS.
What does an Ambassador do?
I have the privilege of helping amplify what BridgingVoice is doing in the ALS communities that I participate in. I am also available to help direct people to get the support they need. For example, I directed a pALS to resources to enable their ElevenLabs voice clone on TD Snap. Our goal as ambassadors is to make people aware of what’s available for them to communicate more effectively.
Connect with BridgingVoice
- Meet with a team member to get individualized support.
- Join weekly office hours to get some questions answered.
- Attend live training and learn something new.
Don’t have ALS? Consider supporting BridgingVoice and directly impact the quality of life for someone with ALS. Keep us talking!
Donate – Bridging Voice
Wrap up
I am happy to spread the word about BridgingVoice. They helped me directly. First, their partnership with ElevenLabs allowed me to get a professional voice clone. Then I met with Abby to make it sound even better. I look forward to helping others keep their voice.
