A Totally Different Life

People with AAC needs have so much to say, something I was reminded of recently when I pulled an old, dog-eared book from my shelf and got lost leafing through the essays. In spite of all the challenges he faced, Thomas Bratt, a Swedish man who became speech impaired from a massive stroke at age 23, reminds us that courage and a sense of humor count for something.  In the book, Conversations with Nonspeaking People, Bratt tells about taking a trip on his own to see Venice two years after his stroke at a time when he was still severely aphasic.  “I didn’t know what I was going to do.  I wanted to go to Venice.  And at that time I couldn’t even speak Swedish.  What difference would it make then if I couldn’t speak Italian?”  (1984, p.26). 

Bratt, T. (1984). A totally different life. In Conversations with Nonspeaking People.  Toronto: Canadian Rehabilitation Council for the Disabled. (pp.24-27).