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. 

Me and my dream

Last weekend, Jemima volunteered to give a presentation at the One Voice family network day. One Voice supports families with children using Alternative and Augmentative Communication, particularly high tech communication aids, and the annual summer weekend is one of the highlights of Jemima's year. Role model presentations raise the aspirations of children and parents by showing them what AAC users can do, and now Jemima and her friends, the first generation of One Voice children, are themselves ready to act as role models. The teenagers' workshops the previous day had focused on transition, and Jemima chose to talk about herself and one of her current ambitions:

Hello! My name is Jemima. I am seventeen. My favourite TV show is Dr. Who and my favourite movies are the Harry Potter films, Narnia and Prince Caspian, High School Musical and the Japanese animated films made by Studio Ghibli. I also like some of my parents' old films like Four Weddings and a Funderal and Sleepless in Seattle.

I'm profoundly deaf. I understand sign language. I like talking with my voice but I can speak more clearly with my Dynavox. I use scanning with a voice switch. That is slow and hard work.

I will stay at my school for one of two more years. Then I think I'll go to Northern Counties College. I want to study ICT and I hope to do some courses in a local college. I want to learn about film making. I was first interested in film making when my dad videoed holidays and family events. My first experience of how a real film is made was at the One Voice weekend in Blackpool in 2002. I loved the video. Then I made two Video Nation films for the BBC with my dad. I thought that was fun and interesting. We planned what we wanted to film and recorded me talking with my Dynavox. The first film was about me and my life. It was in a series called Voices. Then they asked me to do another one about Christmas. Last year I really enjoyed doing the One Voice DVD project. I liked working with Silverfish and seeing how they organised the filming and edited the film. I showed the DVD to my class when we made a film about our school for our Duke of Edinburgh Award. I interviewed someone who went to my school when she was a girl and has worked there for a long time.

Last month I learned about animation at the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle. It was a workshop for teenagers to celebrate the tenth birthday of the Angel of the North. I see the Angel every day when I go to school. They showed us how to do animation with paint, sand, plasticene and cutting paper. I chose paper and talked about my idea with my Dynavox. Everyone's work was edited into one film for the Angel's birthday party. I am waiting to get my copy. I really want to do more animation.

I saved up my birthday money and last Monday I got a little video camera. Now I am going to learn to shoot and edit films. That is my dream for the future.