WMU event part of Aphasia Awareness Month
June 10, 2002
KALAMAZOO -- An educational event is in the works at Western Michigan University to teach people about the little-known condition of aphasia and commemorate National Aphasia Awareness Month.
At 1 p.m. Friday, June 21, the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology will offer a series of readings delivered by people with aphasia. The event will take place in the Unified Clinics in the University Medical and Health Sciences Center at 1000 Oakland Drive.
Clients and caregivers from the Charles Van Riper Language, Speech and Hearing Clinic will present the readings. The readings are from plays written by people with the disorder and include segments of "The Traveler" by Jean-Claude van Itallie, "Struck Dumb" by Joseph Chaikin and "Night Sky" by Susan Yankowitz.
Aphasia is a neurological disorder that can impair an individual's speech, mobility and other everyday capacity. It is an acquired language disorder that has a devastating effect on language abilities, including speech, listening, reading and writing. It usually strikes suddenly and is typically associated with strokes. Though more than one million Americans suffer from aphasia--more than either muscular dystrophy or Parkinson's disease--very few people know about it.
The event is being presented through the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology with help from the Kensel Giddings Advancement of Aphasia Awareness and Education Award. Kensel Giddings, a former client of the Charles Van Riper Language, Speech and Hearing Clinic, was a Paw Paw, Mich., native, general contractor and volunteer in his community before suffering a stroke in 1984. The stroke left him with aphasia and paralysis on his right side.
From the day Giddings and his wife, Adele, were told he would
never communicate again, they
sought assistance for his aphasia in formal speech and language
treatment, community peer support
groups and artistic expression. He remained active at home and
in his community, learning again to draw and communicate using
drawings and gestures. In 1990, he suffered another stroke, but
until then, he continued to exhibit his pencil sketches of Michigan
wildlife and collected artifacts from World War II. After his
death, his family provided funds to establish the Kensel Giddings
Advancement of Aphasia Awareness and Education Award to spread
knowledge of aphasia to the community.
For more information on the event, call Sandra Glista, associate academic career specialist in the speech pathology and audiology department, at (269) 387-8064 or sandra.glista@wmich.edu.
For more information about services provided by the Charles Van Riper Language, Speech and Hearing Clinic, call the clinic at (269) 387-8047.
Media contact: Mark Schwerin, 269 387-8413, mark.schwerin@wmich.edu