By day I am a personal assistant. Not a glamorous PA with pad, pen and a nice line in stilettos. No. I’m both carer and mum and in this capacity I have been asked to step outside the normal roles on frequent occasions over the past few years. I might suggest that my son delights in my continual promotion and demotion throughout the day. From one minute to the next I can be anything from cook and bottle-washer to pond maintenance, plumber, odd job person and secretary.
The latest venture may represent a promotion… it is certainly a departure from the norm. Today I became his cameraman.
Not that this is an onerous duty. I could have fun with this, I thought, but no. In fact, I had no say in it at all… I just get to press the button I’m told to press when I’m told to press it. Pity…
Never mind, it won’t be my only chance.
Nick has decided to post a series of video blogs, highlighting some of the things he has found useful in dealing with the effects of brain injury in case they might be of use to others. He has started with the voice software that is enabling him to write at length for the first time in years. It has a secondary effect too, being exceptionally useful as a do-it-yourself aid to speech therapy.
Now, I am not going to post about everything he writes or does on his new blog, but this is something special that he himself is unlikely to allude to. Sitting voluntarily in front of a camera is a major step for anyone who has had to combat a changed self-image and to do so takes courage.
I speak from a comparatively minor experience of my own; my face was wrecked by a drunk driver years ago and it took a very long time before I ceased to see the scars that had long become invisible to everyone else. To this day I avoid the camera lens whenever I can. It probably explains why I took up the camera myself. It is safer on this end.
With Nick’s permission, I have written before of how he felt about himself for a long time. I will not repeat it here. Suffice it to say that in a long line of things that make me proud of my son, this is not the least, not by any means.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
I can really relate to this. From the neck down, I’m a mass of scars and implants. It’s ugly. I’m not sure I’ll ever get passed it.
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It is very difficult to do so, I know. Two botched surgeries left their mark on me too. But Garry loves you no less.
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I think it’s a great thing for him to do and especially impressive since his motivation is to help other people. I nipped over to have a look at the video blog you linked to. It was very good, not only fantastically well filmed (you’re obviously a natural with that start and stop button), but also interesting content-wise too. The system he was demonstrating looks remarkably straightforward to use. I left a brief message on his site, but since it was my first visit, I was on my best behavior and didn’t attempt any of my usual groan-inducing humor.
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He does groan-inducing humour very frequently… you’ll fit right in… 🙂
We’ve harnessed technology all the way along, wherever we could and not always in obvious ways. This new software, being so accurate, is opening so many new doors for him that he wanted to share it.
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Yes, it did seem accurate, and also very user-friendly when it came to correcting mistakes. I can imagine it will make all sorts of things much easier. Does it have a check function for groan-inducing gags, though? It sounds like that might be useful for both of us.
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It seems very simple to use and I am duly impressed… I could do with that so I could work on long drives!
I doubt if it does… though I’m sure Nick would disable the function if it did 🙂
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Haha! I’d do the same. If I didn’t, that would be about three-quarters of every post gone at a stroke.
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I very much doubt Nick would get through the first paragraph or opening gambit of a conversation 😉
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His first vlog is great Sue!
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He is intent on sharing what he’s learned so far, Ritu 🙂
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And he is doing amazingly!
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He is, isn’t he? 🙂
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I have few scars I always want to hide. Had a terrible bicyle accident that tore the cap of my left knee. Until today, it is horribly visible and can be seen. I choose to wear long skirts or jeans to cover it up. And I have birth streches (After gave birth to 7 kids) and never wear bikinis ever again – anyway, that bikini thing is not important. And I broke my lower jaw when I was a teen (also bicycle accident) left ugly scar under my chin and up behind my right ear … I try to hide it with long, long Rapunzel hair. But people who knows me and like me, love me the way I am. It is just me that feels the SCARS … Hmmm …
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Seven? You’re a superwoman, Sherrie! 🙂
I’ve never liked bikinis; they come off when you dive 😉 and as my belly now smiles with scars… and I’m a little old for bikinis anyway… I won’t wear one again either.
But you are right… we see the scars, those who love us don’t. Love sees only beauty.
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My husband love the scars on my belly. He said it is the proof of our love – reminded us that I carried his babies … He does not want me to feel down because of it and he said it is what woman DO when they love – to carry their souls combined in one flesh and a special child born with it … I love that when he always often enough to remind me that to him I am beautiful …
I do bikinis until I was in the twenties … later, NEVER! LOL
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Sherrie, that’s beautiful! ❤
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🙂
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You did right to highlight it, Sue. Although, anyone that now knows Nick will not be the least bit surprised at his doing it. Good for him. 🙂
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It really is a huge step, Richard… but he’s getting good at taking those 🙂
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Very good
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🙂
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You are a formidable, inspiring team, Sue, and a lovely example of what you can achieve if you try hard enough…
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Nick works wonders pretty much daily 🙂
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Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
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I watched his vlog with awe. I, too, wondered if I could use it for work but I’m so useless with technology it would probably just type gobbledygook.
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It seems really straightforward, Mary. My problem is that the speaking and writing voices don’t seem to work very well together.
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How do you mean?
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I can’t get my head round the fact that punctuation has to be spoken… it breaks the flow. My fingers have learned how… no doubt I could learn though.
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Yes, I did wonder about that when I heard Nick telling it to put in a comma. I think I’d be fine if it was a letter I was dictating but not if it was a story. Or, I could be like a friend of mine who, when typing his work ignores punctuation, including quote marks round speech until he reaches the end – then goes back and puts them in.
The vision of lounging a la Barbara Cartland on a sofa while dictating my peerless prose has vanished.
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My vision was to be able to work when I’m on the move… or ironing 🙂 I quite like the idea of doing away with punctuation…once into the editing, that would make you pay attention!
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Wow! You should be proud! He is not only courageous I love his determination and inner strength. He sure is inspiring.
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I am, Fransi. Very proud… for all sorts of reasons 🙂
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I wondered who was behind the camera when I viewed Nick’s post on the Dragon, Naturally Speaking program (we have it – my husband liked it for transcribing his medical notes). I was amazed at Nick’s clear speech and sense of humor. I think he has emerged from this terrible time in both your lives with a sense of purpose and life goals and he is to be greatly admired – as is his mother!
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The sense of purpose is a direct consequence of the brain injury… and one of the reasons he would not change a thing if he could or go back to ‘before’. The sense of humour sadly not only survived but got much, much, worse 😉
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Reblogged this on Musings on Life & Experience and commented:
This is about an amazing young man, Nick, written by his mother, Sue Vincent.
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His skills impress the heck out of me!
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Me too 😉
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