The update explained how he is now able to “move both his legs” and touch “his left and his right ear when asked to do so.”
The Independent spoke to his aunt, Kate Yarbo who explained that although the teenager is “trapped in because he is non-verbal," he is now able to respond yes and no through blinking “once for yes and twice for no.”
When asked about whether or not Joseph knew about the pandemic, Ms Yarbo said that the family “don’t know what he (Joseph) knows yet because he’s still non-verbal.”
His aunt went on to say that since September 2020, Joseph’s mother had been allowed to visit him once on his birthday, but that she had to “stay two metres distance in full PPE.” She added that all other communications with her nephew had “been through the power of Zoom.”