Can you start her lessons in a bathroom? Also suggest you hold a perch in your hand so she gets used to seeing it. Then try to perch train. Her with a treat in that hand. Attach a perch to the inside of cage door to help with training and keeping your hands out of cage. Do you know why she was cage bound for 10 years? Most important is to move at a snails pace with her.
She was owned by my grandparents friend Dotty. Dotty was very old when she got Apollo as a fledgling. Apollo was her best friend. She would sit on her lap and be very welcoming to newcomers asking for pets and such so I've heard from the stories. Seems very out of character for an african grey. Anyway, Dotty died and Apollo was passed on to my grandparents. Now they cared for Apollo almost as well as Dotty. Of course, they had no idea that they need more than just seeds and there are more toxic things than avocado. Apollo was doing well until my grandparents moved in with us. Grandma was scared to handle Apollo due to the cats and grandma had a stroke so she was very forgetful.
Apollo was then left in her cage malnourished and under socialized. She got fearful and aggressive and scared of almost anything. She was thought to be male this whole time and was even theoretically blood tested. Pfft, some job they did of that. Anyway, she started laying eggs. When Apollo lays an egg my grandma takes it out and shows the whole house which tremendously stresses the bird. A week or so later my family throws it out if grandma hasn't already saved the thing in her room (which smells terrible. Like dog pee and old people who haven't showered in forever mixed with other scents I can't recognize covered by the immense amount of perfume and cologne my grandparents wear.) Apollo doesn't lay as many eggs as you'd expect actually. Anyway!
Thats why she was kept in her cage for ten years! Curiously enough she's never had a problem with plucking much.
She's coming out of her shell a lot now. She speaks more often such as saying "I want an orange/apple" when she wants a treat and "Go on, get out! Get!" When she's unhappy. There are other little things like "Hello" and the elusive "Good morning, sweet heart!" and my favorite. Dotty used to smoke a lot when she was younger so she has this deep gravelly voice and she was very bad at singing. It's still great when Apollo sings in her voice "La di da da da da DA"
I'm mainly worried about my grandma. She looms over Apollo's cage and gets her face in real close and starts talking to the bird. She also feeds her tons of crap like cheesy crackers and potato chips which makes Apollo often sick. I've posted on the door "don't feed the bird things including cheese, added sugar, avocado, rhubarb, raw beans, raw potato, junk food, cookies etc." but I still end up often fishing potato chips from the food dish. I can't get it into her head as her memory is completely gone. She's the main setback on my training of Apollo.
I walk to the fruits and veggie store up the street very often for stuff to give to Apollo. And when we're out of stock I steam the frozen veggies we keep in the freezer so I'm slowly nourishing her back to health. I think I can have a very rewarding friendship with Apollo if I keep working at it. I don't know if she'll ever be like her original self though...
Feel free to ask more questions.
