11 January 2009

Trainee Role Model

In November Jemima was invited to attend the One Voice family weekend in Blackpool. This event is for families with children aged under 12 using communication aids. Jemima was asked to give a short presentation to a parents' workshop about what she has done with the One Voice Teenagers and how she has benefited from it. She was also to act as a trainee role model throughout the weekend, alongside the adult role models who are always involved in One Voice events. This is her presentation.

Hello, my name is Jemima. I am 17. I live at High Shincliffe, near Durham. My school is Northern Counties in Newcastle. I got my Dynavox when I was about 8 but it did not work very well because I had problems with all the switches I tried. Finally I got my throat switch and I was really excited. It was the first time I could work something by myself.

Soon after I went to One Voice at Blackpool. It was a Harry Potter weekend and we did little plays. I really enjoyed it and it made me want to use my Dynavox. It was the first time I saw lots of people using communication aids to do interesting things. I went to Blackpool three times and I felt sad when I could not go again.

So I was very happy and excited when I heard about the first One Voice teenager weekend. I have been to all four and they were all great! I like meeting the One Voice teenagers, they are my friends because I see them every year. It is good working with the role models because they are quite young and cool, just a few years older than us, and they are doing interesting things like going to university or starting a business. That helps me to think about the future.

The teenager projects are a little bit more serious than Blackpool. We have lots of fun and great discos but we think about things too. We have done workshops about good and bad things about communication aids and thought about what we are good at and how we can help people understand what we need. We had an exciting weekend making the Listen to me DVD and music video. I thought that was fantastic because I am really interested in making films. Last summer we talked about transition. That was useful because it helped me think about what I want to do and my dreams for the future. Some of us did presentations at the family network day. The first time me and my parents saw role models doing presentations we were amazed but now we can do the same. One Voice has helped me become more confident and positive. Now I am learning to be a role model. I want to help younger children who are starting to use communication aids. That is one of my ambitions for the future.