Stroke can cause disabilities like aphasia, a condition where a person’s ability to communicate is compromised. The two-day seminar cum conference on aphasia brings together neurologists, speech therapists, and physiologists to have a holistic discussion on how the disorder can be tackled, as well as therapies available for aphasia patients.
Two years ago, when Sudha Jayendra, an HR director, had a stroke, she did not realise what the consequences would be. The stroke had affected the left hemisphere of her brain, she lost all her language skills right from reading, speech and writing abilities. It was aphasia, that she had not heard about before.
Her husband Jayendra Panchapakesan, today, after two years of his wife’s illness has decided to shed more light on the disorder, by bringing together a team of specialists to tell the world what aphasia is all about and how it can be treated.
Aphasia is a common affliction that affects stroke victims, where individuals will not be able to understand language. Other complications like partial or total paralysis, vision impairment are also the effects of aphasia. At least 334-424 of every one lakh individuals are affected by stroke in India. At least 25 per cent of these are likely to develop aphasia. However, all these years, in India, the number of pathologists and hospitals who offer post-stroke rehabilitation are very low. Most victims do not get the much-needed rehabilitation.
In fact, Panchapakesan had to struggle hard to find a solution for his wife’s illness. First it was very difficult for him to diagnose the condition. Then regaining her memory and language skills were the hardest of all tasks for him. And finally, an intensive therapy, a high quality programme, conducted twice a year by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago in Chicago, came to Sudha’s rescue.
The two-day conference that began in Chennai today looks at adding support groups and associations to reduce the degree of difficulty faced by aphasia victims and their care-givers. Organised by an NGO called Bhoomika Trust, co-founded by Panchapakesan along with SRMC and their Speech Therapy Department, the conference was aimed at bridging the gap between speech pathologists, stroke victims and caretakers through a conference.
