June is National Aphasia Awareness month.
Here in Massachusetts, there will be the first Aphasia Awareness Day at the State House on Thursday, June 27. If you live in Massachusetts, please join us between 11am and 2pm to raise awareness about this communication disorder. The event will include information about resources for people who are living with aphasia and their families and friends. For more information, see Justice 4 Aphasia. Many thanks to Karen Kelly for making this happen.
This might be obvious, but I'll say it anyways: these kinds of events are important because so many people who have aphasia cannot speak (or write or read) for themselves--and people who can't speak for themselves can't get the services they desperately need.
For people who don't live in Massachusetts or can't join us at the State House, there is a growing number of online resources for people who are affected by aphasia. A good place to start is the National Aphasia Association and its directory of support groups and centers that offer speech therapy and courses. Also, if you are on Facebook, there are also at least two pages that are great places to connect with other people who have aphasia and their caregivers: Aphasia Recovery Connection and Living Successfully With Aphasia (sorry, I don't know how to link to a Facebook page).
2 days ago