12 November 2012

Using social media and the internet with my dynavox

I love Facebook! I post status updates and my friends and cousins and aunties write comments. I stay in touch with people I do not see often, like my One Voice friends and my family in the south of England,  France and Canada. I am friends with people from school and college too. I read what everyone is up to, I like or write comments, and look at photos.  I like that because I communicate equally with everyone. 
I like chatting on Facebook. Usually I chat with friends who used to be at school or college with me. My mum helps me, I talk with my voice and she types what I say. That#s easier for me than talking face to face, because I need signing and using my DynaVox with my switch is really slow. The problem is that#s not private, my mum sees everything.  My DynaVox is a computer too. For ages I wanted to access the internet independently, but I use a switch with scanning and I did not know How to do that. In September the DynaVox rep showed us How to use mouse scanning on websites. Now I can write a message on the DynaVox then post it on Facebook. I was really really excited the first time I did that independently. Mouse scanning is slow and quite difficult, but that#s like everything with my switch, I am used to that! 
I like email. I have a email pen friend called Libby in New York state. She uses a DynaVox too. We email every week. We have been pen friends for 4 and a half years. I can do email independently on the DynaVox email browser. That#s good but slow. It takes all afternoon to write all my news. Sometimes my mum types for me on the computer. The DynaVox browser does not cope with attachments like photos. I email people in my family to say thank you for presents, and friends to arrange to meet. 
I use the internet to look at websites like doctor who, watch programmes on BBC i-player, and for shopping on Amazon. Now I have mouse scanning I am thinking about secret shopping! We have a family blog but I did not do that for ages. Maybe I would like to try that independently now. The internet helps me stay in contact with people and the world. I That#s really important. I am fed up if I do not have access somewhere. 
I want to try talking to my One Voice friends and maybe Libby my American pen friend on skype.  I have not tried Twitter yet, but maybe I will try in future. 
My parents help me stay safe on -line. On Facebook I am only friends with people I really know. I do not have photos of me on the internet. I like choosing different photos for my Facebook profile. I used to have photos of my Ginger cat, now I have doctor who characters. Now I can do more things independently I have to think about safety. I went to a communication matters day about that. 
The internet and social media are a important part of my life. I can not imagine life with -out that.