Dr Who fan of the month

In October I did an application to Whovian.net to be Dr Who fan of the month. I worked really hard answering all the questions on my communication aid, but they didn’t choose me. This is what I wrote.

Why are you worthy?

I'm a big Dr Who fan! I don't just love the Doctor, have all the Dr Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures DVDs, and have posters and a row of little Tardises in my bedroom. I also choose Dr Who photos for my profile photos on Facebook and Twitter, and write cryptic Dr Who tweets on my communication aid every Saturday morning about that evening's episode. Then later I tweet what I think of it. Tweets take me a very long time because I access the computer with a switch and special software. That's because I have cerebral palsy, and I'm also deaf. I love tweeting about Dr Who because on social media I can connect with other Dr Who fans and communicate equally with everyone. I have also made a Dr Who page on my communication aid, where I've programmed lots of questions and comments to make it easier for me to discuss Dr Who with other people. I always watch Dr Who Extra on i-player and I used to love Confidential, because I'm very interested in how films and television programmes are made. I'm working on a short animation about Daleks arriving in my village, and I have just made some block prints of an Ood and a Dalek. I'm planning to do a series of prints of Dr Who monsters, and maybe a Tardis print. I've even decorated my wheelchair with Dr Who stickers.

Firstly, how and when did you become a Doctor Who fan?

 I remember seeing a Dr Who trailer on BBC1 in 2005, with the ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler in the Tardis. I didn't know about Dr Who at that time, but I thought that looked an exciting programme. My parents watched with me, because they thought that might be too scary for me! I loved it, and I've watched every episode since. I thought Rose was a great character.

We're approaching the end of this year's epic series. What have been your highlights of the Twelfth Doctor's adventures thus far? 

 I think series 8 is fantastic. My favourite episodes are Deep Breath, Robot of Sherwood and In the Forest of the Night. I think Peter Capaldi is a great actor, though I do miss Matt, and I really like Jenna Coleman who plays Clara.

A new series means a brand new story arc and there's been an interesting one developing around Michelle Gomez as the Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere, otherwise known as 'Missy'. Have you concocted any of your own theories about who she might be?

I think Missy is someone in the Doctor's life, maybe from a future he has not yet experienced. She seems to be a bad character, I'm a bit anxious about her!

Clara's been juggling two worlds this series as she's been developing a romance with Danny Pink, played by Samuel Anderson. Do you think that Danny's a good match for the impossible girl?

Maybe Clara and Danny will stay together in future, maybe they will get married, maybe not... Danny is not a bad match for Clara, but I'm not sure if he's good enough. No boyfriend can be as exciting as the eleventh Doctor!
 

2013 was a fantastic year for Doctor Who as fans around the world celebrated half a century of adventures in space and time. What golden memories will you cherish from the show's momentous 50th anniversary year?

I loved seeing the tenth and eleventh doctors together in The Day of the Doctor, and I was really interested to see all the programmes about the history of Dr Who. I enjoyed watching the BBC docu-drama "An Adventure in Time and Space", about the early years of Dr Who, and that encouraged me to start watching the very first stories from 1963. Now I've started to explore more stories from the sixties, seventies and eighties, so the anniversary year opened up a whole new dimension of Dr Who for me.

The spooky season of Halloween is once again upon us. What would you say is the scariest episode of Doctor Who to date, and why?

I find the Weeping Angels really scary. I think the scariest episodes are Blink, because Sally Sparrow's friend Kathy is taken back in time by the Weeping Angels and can never return, and Angels Take Manhattan, because I love New York and I felt upset about the Angels taking over the city. Amy and Rory were taken back in time; it was such a sad ending!

Is there any Doctor Who companion - past or present - that you particularly relate to?

I relate most to Clara, I really like her. She is brave, enthusiastic, confident and fun, and I love her style. I call my communication aid Clara because it's my companion, and I have a check dress a bit like Clara's.

Describe what being part of the Doctor Who fandom means to you in 12 words or less.

Connecting with fans around the world, sharing tweets, opinions, photos and clips.

Finally, is there anything else you'd like to say before you go?

Geronimo! Don't be lasagne!

 

Inaccessible Unacceptable

This is film we made at college with living streets. I directed it. We want people to be aware of the streets in Jesmond and about the accessibility problems. We want people to know how bad it is parking on a dropped kerb. The Student council thought about what maybe happen if people park on dropped kerb and made a storyboard. We made a script and we think about where to film the different Scenes. Filming took a long time but it was fun. People were nervous in front of the video camera but they got used to it. I enjoyed saying Action! And Cut!. When we filmed in doors we had a problem with lighting, it was too dark. We needed to use a light from the disco lounge to light Tom when he was reading the news. The problem was that Tom could not see because the light was in his eyes. When we filmed outside we had to wait for good weather. Every time we made plans to film, it rained! We used a little H.D video camera with a tripod, I checked the scene through the cameras screen before we started filming each part. Some times I used a Gorillapod tripod and put it on top of my DynaVox. We also used the gorillapod on Jill's wheelchair so that people could see things from her view. I used Serif MoviePlus to put the film together. I think editing quite easy, I enjoyed it. The music for the film was made by our Students in the music technology group. We hope you enjoy the film.

Unspoken: My Voice

In this little film, different people who use communication aids talk about their voice and why it’s important to them. Lots of people I know are in the film. I’m in it, but you only see my Dynavox scanning, not my face.

The video was made by Kate Caryer and her friends, for a fundraising event to support a drama project about AAC. I think that’s an interesting idea. Kate is a 1 Voice role model.

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. 

My 1 Voice animation

In March I did my work experience at the Media Centre. I chose that because I really wanted to do more animation. Now I'm a teenage role model, I want to do things to help 1 Voice, so I decided to make an advertising animation for the Blackpool weekends. I hope that can go on the 1 Voice website.

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.