I dream

Last autumn I heard about a competition to make a short film on the topic of follow your dreams. I had the idea of making an animation about my wild dreams of swimming and flying in my wheelchair.

I go to Arrcc in Folkestone, a centre offering creative activities for disabled people. Last summer we made paper cut pictures inspired by the Matisse paper cut exhibition at Tate Modern. I looked at paper cuts of the circus and dancers, made with really simple shapes, and thought I could use that idea in a stop motion animation. That's a good style for me, because I can draw simple shapes with support. You can see how I designed the paper cuts on the wall display.

I've done cut-out animation before. The first time I tried animation was at a community project at the Tyneside cinema in Newcastle, to celebrate the Angel of the North's tenth birthday. I made a little paper cut sequence about passing the Angel every day in my school taxi, and that inspired me to look for more opportunities to do animation, on work experience and in other projects. In 2013 I went to a workshop at Canterbury Anifest, where Charlotte Firmin showed us how Small Films used cut-out animation to make children's programmes like Ivor the Engine. I bought some software and started trying to make little animations at home. When I started going to Arrcc last summer, I was really excited that I could do film making there, because I was looking for opportunities to do more film making.

The other exciting thing that happened in 2014 was getting Grid 2 software and my new computer. With Grid 2 I can access the computer with the switch I use for my communication aid. That's fantastic because I can do more things independently, and the thing I most wanted to do was film editing. When I've make films before I have directed someone to be my hands on the computer, but I really wanted to edit them myself. I shot I Dream and recorded the voice over at Arrcc, with help from Dom, the film maker who works at Arrcc, and my mum, but I edited it at home. I needed help with the sound and subtitles, because I'm deaf,  but I did all the video editing myself with my switch. I was so excited when it worked! It's very slow and hard work, but I'm really happy I can do that.

Now I want to make lots more films!

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.

Dover Dash

The Dover Dash is a sports afternoon for disabled people. It's in Dover leisure centre on Saturdays. I went twice. I played boccia and I tried to join in dancing. I was the only one with a wheelchair. They have other sports but I can't do them, maybe I can do kurling next time. I chatted to people with my DynaVox, some people didn't really wait for me but some were friendly. Kate organises that, she's nice and friendly.

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.