Aphasia Matters

In this episode of Brain Friends we talk about having aphasia on vacation, paraphrasing as a successful communication tool, and #aphasia trending after a celebrity diagnosis. 

Angie shares fluency and relaxation tips important for airport travel and social communication with friends and family. 

Dr. Seles learns the importance of making sure practitioners and researchers focus on functional language that helps with community integration of social activities like dining out. 

Together we address an ongoing question in the field, if practitioners should still classify aphasia types?  We end this episode with a question everyone listening should answer and ask someone with aphasia. “What do you wish more people knew about aphasia?

https://www.cognitiverecoverylab.com/seles

https://aphasia.org/stories/announcing-the-davetrina-seles-gadson-health-equity-grant-program/

Our beloved colleague, Dr. Davetrina Seles Gadson, passed away January 11, 2025. Dr. Gadson was an extraordinary speech-language pathologist and neuroscience researcher who devoted her energy to studying health disparities in aphasia recovery. She was a fierce advocate for improving services for individuals with aphasia, particularly Black Americans. Her research transformed our understanding of these health disparities and shed light on how we can address them. We were privileged to have Dr. Gadson as a cherished member of our lab community for four years, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as an Instructor of Rehabilitation Medicine. She was still a close collaborator and friend to many of us at the time of her passing. Dr. Gadson was an incredible person—compassionate, inspiring, and full of life. Her dedication to advancing equity in aphasia recovery and her profound impact on our community will never be forgotten. We are committed to honoring her memory by continuing to push our field forward and fight for equitable services for all people with aphasia.