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Winter Quarter 2012
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Why
AAC?
To be able to express relatively complex thought is what makes us human. Expressing basic needs does not; dogs do that. Before my stroke, I was considered pretty intelligent by most people, so my identity was based on what I said and how well I articulated my innermost thoughts. When I lost the ability to speak I lost my identity. To this day, if you leave me in a crowd without my AAC, people treat me as if I don't exist, because without speech, I don't exist as far as they are concerned. But give me a way to express myself and suddenly they treat me like a human again. I lost almost everything in the stroke; yet if I could have but one thing back it would unquestionably be my voice, because that is what defines us, above everything else, as human. AAC devices go a long way towards bridging that gap. That is not all. For four years everything built up inside me; emotions, thoughts, feelings. Finally a friend suggested that we write a blog using AAC. It took many months, but it proved to be a great form of therapy. After everything was written down, I could forget it and finally let it go. Any psychologist will tell you the dangers of not releasing emotions; without AAC and its ability to record complex thoughts, people in my condition have no way to express anything. Without AAC you can't even get therapy because you have no way of communicating with a therapist. This is not about the pros/cons of therapy, although one of the hospitals I was in put a therapist on every patient care team because the patients suffered such large traumas. In my situation you are bound to run across them sooner or later. Regardless, AAC devices are very important for your state of mental health and maintaining a positive outlook on life by expressing your inner thoughts, either with or without a therapist. Additionally, recent advances in email make it possible for people in this situation to form and maintain the semblance of normal relationships with others. In fact, I keep in touch with hundreds of people this way. Because they consist of text, emails appear normal to other people, even though they may take hours to type. What is also interesting is that I fall off of people's radar screens pretty quickly unless I find a reason to contact them regularly. It is not that they don't care, it is just that everyone is busy, and unless I use email to stay in front of them, I just cease to exist for them. I imagine it would be as if I were put in an institution; people might think of me from time to time but I might as well be dead to the outside world. Finally, if you are worried that the presence of an AAC device will diminish your focus on learning how to speak, don't. I have been using AAC devices of one type or another for years and yet I am still going to speech therapy for my natural voice. The two address two very different needs. AAC allows you to communicate complex thoughts to the general public and establish a public identity. Learning to use your natural voice remains the ultimate goal, but is best done in the presence of known listeners for basic needs. There is no reason the two have to compete or even overlap. Each one has a very distinct purpose. To say that I live to communicate is not an understatement. Since I only get a couple of hours a day on the computer and because it takes me a relatively long period of time to type, I spend most of my waking hours reflecting on what people have emailed me and carefully planning my responses to minimize the typing needed. I am absolutely lost when my email goes down. I have found it the best way to express myself because the listener doesn't have to wait while I compose my thoughts. To claim that AAC devices give me my sense of humanity is no exaggeration. I am close enough to being a complete vegetable that I can honestly say I know what that is like-and it is not pretty. It is a complete exercise in frustration. With advances in AAC technologies, there is less and less of a reason for anyone to have to live like that. AAC devices make it possible to feel human again.
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