User:TheTwitterMan/sandbox

= JosephReidNZ =

Joseph Reid is known online as JosephReidNZ. About 22 and a half years ago, his parents were blessed by Joseph! While most of New Zealand was watching Peter Blake win the Americas Cup. Joseph entered the world, barely alive.

Joseph was born very very sick due to his lack of oxygen during the birth. As a result of this, Joseph lives with Cerebral Palsy (Athetoid) in his day to day life. Joseph is half Kiwi and half Polish. In the very first days of his life he had to stay in Tauranga hospital, because he was very sick. The first 5 years of his life were very intensive and involved a variety of therapies. Travelling to Hamilton at 1 year of age, Joseph began Conductive Education two times a week. He and his Mum did that for almost 3 years. This is a program from Hungary, and is predominately for children with Cerebral Palsy.

Joseph sat in a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber (dive chamber for the “bends”) to try and improve the oxygen levels in his blood. After Conductive Education Joseph had volunteers help him do exercises at home 10 times a week. As Joseph grew, he started to learn to drive his first Power Chair when he was still at Kindy! Joseph lived in a small rural community, people recognized him and got to know him… But Joseph couldn’t connect to people with a conversation because he is non-verbal. Joseph wasn’t quite ‘world famous in NZ’ like L&P, but his Mum often said he was world famous in Omokoroa!

Joseph started at the local country school when he turned 5. Not long after, Joseph made the papers using his new Hart Walker. The walker was 1 of his 2 main activities keeping him physically active, the other being swimming, which he still does weekly. During Year 7 Joseph initiated going to a bigger school and began attending Bethlehem College. One reason Joseph liked it there was because he was no longer the only person in a wheelchair. his Christian faith was further developed, his Poppa is a retired minister and has been a big influence in his life. His teacher aides helped him do the school work, but it was hard as Joseph couldn’t talk and there was no technology that ‘fitted’ him, and supported him to communicate efficiently. This was a long, and at times frustrating period that went on for most of his school life.

Joseph has a high level of intellect, but his body won’t listen to the messages of his muscles. Joseph has full control of his which eyes are probably his most important body part. Joseph and his Mum developed a good way of communicating using his eyes which we call “blink spelling”. Blink spelling means Joseph blinks through the alphabet until he gets to the letter he wants, and spell words out. Joseph's Mum has developed short cuts to predict words and Joseph sometimes “draws” letters so they’ve got pretty quick over the years, people who are with him a lot get to learn it too. Some people just read his facial expressions (Joseph is very expressive!) and ask him yes/no questions. Luckily he has grown up during a period of huge technological progress. His main problem was waiting for a tool that would work for him.

Joseph trialed clicker buttons on his knee, hand and chin, but these made him work so hard for very little progress. His first success was when he used the clicker program to fully access a standard computer, Joseph used this for several years. It involved a grid on his computer screen which scanned directional arrows for the mouse, as well as left and right click options, this combined with an on-screen keyboard meant he could finally use a computer. The clicker was good at the time, but it took him a long time to move around a page and often left him hot and sweaty from all the exertion. Joseph realized early on that using a computer opened up a completely new way for him to connect with people.

His older sister, Amy, has been his mentor. She guided Joseph around the initial setup of his online presence. As Joseph started his internet journey he became very inspired by Steve Jobs, the man behind Apple. What he aspired to and achieved in his short lifetime was truly amazing. Steve revolutionized computer products for Joseph's generation. Joseph's life changed in a big way in 2012 when he was given an Eye-Gaze computer! The Eye-Gaze system is much faster and uses a lot less of his energy. The Eye-Gaze calibrates with his eyes, Joseph can then click on things by maintaining his gaze on the screen while a loading clock completes. The main thing is that it has to be set up correctly. This means it needs to be at the right height and distance from me to calibrate with my eyes. I can also type words and it will speak for me through the speaker. Joseph has created pages of vocabulary which he has have customized to his preferences that he can speak at any time. Joseph still prefer to use his Desktop, but there’s an in-built computer system on the device that he use too, Joseph simply connect via USB cord the Eye-Gaze over to it when he want to use his Desktop. The more time he spent on the Eye-Gaze, the quicker he became. It only took him a week to figure it out.

Joseph found using the Eye-Gaze gave him the opportunity to share his humor and connect with people and ideas. Before Joseph had his Eye-Gaze computer he was able to go online, but he wasn’t able to type nearly as fast. For example, Joseph could only “Tweet” about 3 times a day using the Clicker because it used to take him about five minutes to write one sentence. Using the Eye-Gaze computer is his access to the world, because he is non-verbal people can’t readily understand him face to face. Connecting online allows him to communicate and create his community. Joseph have been able to get himself and his personality out there, away from the physical barriers Joseph has. Joseph sussed out pretty quickly that social media was a way for him to partake in a social life a lot more. Facebook is a great medium for friends and family to keep in touch. They see what he is doing and enjoying and he can see what they are up to. Joseph uses Facebook mostly to have chats to people, especially friends from school. His Gmail is used like any email account. To send and reply to messages, pictures and jokes and to subscribe to organisations. It is also how his Dad & him connect when he's not staying at his house, Joseph also use the Gmail chat feature too. His favorite form of social media is Twitter, it is truly a global community.

Being in contact with people he admires in NZ like Dai Henwood, Jeremy Corbett and Urzila Calson from TV’s 7 Days led to him meeting them in person. Joseph even created a Twitter account for his followers to keep up to date with this major event in his life such as his spinal surgery in April 2013, you can find it here. Along with favorite actors and comedians, Joseph have also connected with some of his favorite musicians like Jon Foreman the lead singer of Switchfoot. Joseph don’t feel like he has done anything different to any other teenagers in reference to getting onto Twitter and Facebook. he's just an ordinary person to other people on Social Media. The benefits of using the Internet for him is he communicate with people who he wouldn’t be able to otherwise due to his disability. As you can imagine, there aren’t many computers like his in New Zealand, and not many people who can fix problems when they happen. When Josephs Eye-Gaze breaks down he is isolated from his social media community.

Joseph has now finished his school years and making plans for his future. Joseph has started doing motivational presentations in schools and workplaces across the country. With his passion for Social Media, he'd like to work helping businesses develop their profile in this medium. Using his technology, he is able to use his skills to create an online presence for organisations. So in summary being able to access social media has been life changing. Joseph is not isolated from his community of family and friends, his world has expanded and he is part of a global community where his disability is not a factor.