Hello everyone,
I had a very difficult time with my anomic aphasia today. I have the aphasia everyday, but today was just aweful. I went to Home Depos and tried to speak and just couldn’t. It was so embarrassing.
I’ve been thinking of writing everything down and just show it to the person I want the help from . Anyone have a better idea?
Could you use a Brain Injury card or similar perhaps?
I’ve had a little look at “assistive communication cards” – basically, sets of cards that you can use / point to what you need when getting the words out isn’t working – but so far as I can tell, they cover life’s basics rather than most things you might ask about at Home Depot, so writing down what you want seems like the most flexible solution.
If it helps to get over the first steps of the conversation --why am I writing stuff down? – you can get officially printed brain injury identification cards that you can use to show people that you need help with certain things. I use a “carers passport” when I take my mum out to places, partly in case I have a medical issue and that leaves my mum on her own, and simply wearing what is a lanyard with a “carers passport” card on has prompted a few people to understand mine and mum’s situation without having to ask either of us. I’ve found that helpful. People are intelligent and subtle: they see lanyards etc and can react to them in helpful ways.
I’ve had a look at the American Stroke Association and National Aphasia Association websites and they do have a downloadable ID card but it’s very fixed in its content: you might be better off to make your own card that sets out your own particular needs, or you might have to look a bit wider than I did to see if there are other examples that look nicely official that you can tailor to your own needs. Something more like the UK Headway brain injury card might be useful: Brain Injury Identity Card | Headway just as a starting point.
