June, 2011

Supporting People With Aphasia – Doing It Right?

by Kate Milford on June 29, 2011

AphasiaNZ Logo

The Aphasia Association of New Zealand was formed in 2007, following an expressed need for a specific organisation to support people with aphasia. Our mission is to empower people with aphasia to participate in their own communities.

AphasiaNZ is a registered charity. We run a conference every 2 years, with our next conference being held in November 2011. This is aimed at people with aphasia and health professionals. Continue reading the full article

SCALE’s Aphasia Friendly Business Campaign; Working with Businesses to Expand Services for People with Aphasia

by David Snyder on June 22, 2011

In January 2011, the Snyder Center for Aphasia Life Enhancement (SCALE) launched an “Aphasia-Friendly Business Campaign” to raise awareness of aphasia in Baltimore, build relationships with local businesses and encourage businesses to provide barrier-free access to products and services for people with communication disabilities.

Upon hearing the idea, Zen West Cantina manager, Lynn Gurley and owner Po Chang, immediately jumped at the opportunity to make their restaurant an Aphasia Friendly Business (AFB), but they could not have realized just how smooth and simple the transition would be. Once Gurley fully understood the effect that aphasia –a language impairment usually caused by stroke- has on communication, she realized that a menu with graphics and pictures could easily assist people with aphasia in placing their dinner order. Continue reading the full article

A Brief History of Aphasia Centers

by Roberta J. Elman on June 15, 2011

Aphasia Center of California annual Walk to Talk event

Many Aphasia Centers have a philosophy of service delivery consistent with a social model of healthcare. Pioneers of social approaches to aphasia treatment included Martha Taylor Sarno and Audrey Holland, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that a growing number of aphasiologists began to focus their attention on social approaches to aphasia assessment and intervention. The Life Participation Approach to Aphasia (LPAA), a social model framework proposed by Roberta Chapey, Judith Duchan, Roberta Elman, Linda Garcia, Aura Kagan, Jon Lyon, and Nina Simmons-Mackie, had its start during informal discussions and meetings in the early-to-mid 1990s, followed by a formalized working meeting in 1999. LPAA was an independent effort, and, in part, a response to those in the United States who were stating that aphasia therapy was “dead.” Continue reading the full article

Promoting Wellness Through Action: HARC’s Aphasia Community Taskforce (ACT)

by Stephanie Schmadeke on June 8, 2011

ACT participants(left to right): Joseph Nealy, Cheryl Adamson, Ruth Kamba, Linda Millman, Michael LeBourgeois, Pat Stalsby. Not pictured: Bruno Wesolek, Winston Goodrich and John McDowell.

What is Wellness? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, wellness is “the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal.” Dr. Blair Justice, author of A Different Kind of Health: Finding Well-Being Despite Illness, and one of the founders of the Houston Aphasia Recovery Center, quotes the U.S. Surgeon General, who said proper measure of health is not the absence of disease but a sense of well-being. Says Dr. Justice, “Well-being means having a deep and abiding sense that, despite the day’s woes, life is good. “ Wellness, then, is a state of health that includes many aspects of one’s life: exercise, eating right, psychological contentment, being productive, and generally doing for oneself what needs to be done in order to have an overall satisfying, and for some, superior quality of life. Dr. Justice defined this as “subjective health.” This is measured by one’s emotional and social well-being, which research has shown has a powerful effect on one’s physical health and even longevity.

For persons living with aphasia (PWA), the term “wellness” takes on a modified meaning. It may still involve exercise and eating right, and, of course, happiness, but throughout the recovery process PWA explore, and eventually come to realize, what “wellness” means for them now as they become comfortable in their new roles as people living with aphasia. Aphasia is isolating because of the loss of language and the lack of education and awareness of aphasia in society. The social and emotional aspects of aphasia become the most prominent parts to a sound recovery as our participants get to the point where they are moving past having the aphasia be the main focus of their lives. Continue reading the full article

June is Aphasia Awareness Month

by Ognjen Todic on June 1, 2011

June is Aphasia Awareness Month…. a time to put an extra effort in helping raise awareness of aphasia. In the past, many groups and centers have organized various activities throughout June to help raise aphasia awareness; for more details and ideas you can see the National Aphasia Association website, here, and here.

We wanted to feature a couple of events that will happen this June. Please let us know if there is an activity you are planning to organize and we will update this post with the relevant information (you can email us at blog@aphasiacorner.com or add the information in the comments section below). Continue reading the full article