Hello again,
I hope you’re all well and I hope this awful British weather
isn’t getting you down.
Last time I did a very long blog about getting into the mind-set
of a speech therapist, in which I discussed some of the disorders/impairments that
form part of a speech and language therapist’s caseload. I thought today I
would talk about my experiences at my volunteering and how some of the people I
work with have adjusted to life with aphasia, regained control of their lives and
have now continued with their career/hobbies.
My time volunteering is split two
ways. On Wednesdays I visit David (not his real name of course) at his home. David
is a 71-year-old man who suffered a stroke back in the summer. I usually see
him for about an hour where we talk, and it is a time for David to practice his
speaking in a comfortable environment and to help build his confidence with talking.
On Fridays, I help out with the Camden Stroke Group. The Stroke Association run
a group on Friday mornings where people who have suffered a stroke can go and
socialise with others and us volunteers help support the group. One of the aims
of the group is to increase social support and help people build a new network.
This is because many people who have had a stroke may find it difficult to
maintain friendships and therefore lose their friends and become more isolated
after the stroke. This group is an
opportunity for people to come and make friends and socialise. Dr. Katerina
Hilari, a researcher at City University London has written many articles about
social support networks and one of her articles looks at Stroke Social Network. To see what she found click here.
Many people in the group have some form of Aphasia. For
those of you who have forgotten what Aphasia is, it is a language impairment
that many people who have had a stroke, suffer from. It affects their ability
to read, write and speak. Due to their
Aphasia, many group members, especially men, prefer not to talk and prefer to
keep to themselves. I often notice that compared
to the women who are still more willing to talk, the men prefer to read their
newspapers.
I think sometimes when we hear of stroke we think everyone
has the same thing when actually a stroke comes in all shapes and forms. Strokes vary in severity from person to person.
For example, like I said David who I see on Wednesdays suffered a mild stroke
back in the summer and is walking and talking independently. He tells me he
does have some difficulty with finding his words. However to me, he appears to
be perfectly understandable. The last time I visited him, he told me he was
happy with our visits and that it was helping his speaking which other people
he spoke to, noticed as well. He told me that he feels he has made a lot of progress,
which is very encouraging.
A few of the members of the Friday group used to have very
interesting careers/hobbies. Two of the women used to be singers. One sings
operatic music and the other classical. One of the men used to be a
photographer for a living. Now, many years after they first had their stroke, they
have all managed to regain the ability to work. What I find fascinating is that
despite their aphasia, both women sing so well and remember their lyrics.
The last person in the group I wanted to tell you about was Tony
(not his real name) the photographer. With his permission of course I asked if
I could tell you all about him. So Tony suffered a stroke many years ago, I
can’t remember exactly when but it’s been at least five years or more. Before
his stroke, Tony was a professional photographer. His work has been featured in
galleries and even postcards. After suffering his stroke, Tony was left unable
to carry on working, as the right side of his body was impaired. He had to
learn to write with his left hand and take pictures with his left hand.
However, slowly following his stroke he was able to take up his photography once
more. Recently Tony’s work has been featured in an art exhibition. Before his
Stroke he mainly took photographs of his family and his hometown of Derry,
Ireland. So last Friday, as I sat down to talk to Tony he put a newspaper
clipping in front of me and when I looked at it, it was about himself. The
article discussed people in the neighbourhood who had done some inspiring things.
Tony was in the newspaper because his pictures were featured
in an art exhibition called “Communicating without words” in London. Tony’s
series of photographs shows a fellow stroke survivor and actor displaying
various emotions and feelings. The photographs highlight the importance of
total communication and how for some, they need to compensate for the loss of
speech through other means of communication. For Tony after his stroke he
turned to photography to communicate. I’ve talked about it before but I really
do believe that gesturing is so important for people who have no other ways of
communicating. Because if you think about it, even when we do use speech, many
of us combine this with gestures too. How many of you have nodded whilst saying
yes or shook your head saying no? A team of researchers at City, where I study,
led by Professor Jane Marshall, has looked at gesture therapy for people with
aphasia after stroke. Click here to see what they found.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed hearing about my volunteering. For
anyone looking to volunteer there are many organisations that need volunteers
so why not look up some volunteering opportunities. It doesn’t have to be here
in the UK, there are summer projects abroad too.
Bye for now,
H x
