Breaking the silence after 16 years

Voiceless in his life so far, a severely disabled 16-year-old is marvelling at being able to speak for the first time after breaking his silence with the words "Hello Mum", using a digital communication aid. James Walker is a rugby fan, likes pop music, lives with his family in Hull and has a girlfriend - Emily. He has a condition which caused hundreds of daily seizures when he was a child. Known as Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, it left him with a severe learning disability and without the ability to walk or move. He says it's "funny" after being silent for so long that he can now communicate with friends and family and, as he puts it, "learn something exciting".