Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Aphasia: A struggle for words

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords made news not long ago by sitting through an interview about her lengthy struggle with brain injury after a shooting that nearly killed her. She clearly struggles with words - a problem called aphasia.

Many stroke survivors struggle with aphasia, too. While the cause of Giffords' aphasia is different than mine, I certainly feel for her as she faces this communication challenge. As a newspaper reporter at the time, I was concerned that my language problems would endanger my livelihood. I'm sure that as a public official who runs for office every two years, she has some of the same concerns. Words are powerful tools for political candidates.


Her first television interview occurred not long ago on ABC News.

Aphasia is a silent-like problem - people who have it have trouble talking about it. I know that at one time, I had trouble getting words out. But the word "aphasia" is a word that needs to become more known.

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