Giving a voice to the little-known communication disorder

Mirela Giles, a teacher by profession, felt robbed of her identity and purpose when a stroke left her unable to communicate earlier this year.

The woman from Lake Macquarie was at home when she suffered a stroke in February. The 45-year-old was living alone at the time. Fortunately, a tradesman who was working in her house called for help.

Paramedics arrived within seven minutes. They administered the FAST (Face, Arms, Speech and Time) test and took her to the hospital.

Mirela’s stroke caused her to develop aphasia, a communication disorder that affects speaking, understanding, reading, writing, spelling, texting and typing.

“As a teacher, speaking was like a superpower for me. In an instant, it was taken away from me and I had no purpose, no direction, no income,” Mirela said.

“As I was going back to teaching, it was important to improve my pronunciation as quickly as possible. But the more I worried about it, the worse my pronunciation became, which was incredibly frustrating.

“Intuitively, I started singing and humming, which seemed to help. I signed up for singing lessons, parallel to speech therapy, and it was a miracle how it came back. I was discharged after only six weeks.”

Mirela shares her story in June, Aphasia Awareness Month. She is one of 140,000 Australians living with aphasia.

Dr Lisa Murphy, executive director of the Stroke Foundation, said aphasia affects people differently.

“We know that one in three stroke patients will have difficulty communicating,” said Dr. Murphy.

“Some people occasionally have trouble finding words. Others have difficulty communicating altogether. Some people have difficulty reading and writing. Others have trouble understanding language.

“One way for people with aphasia to seek help is through the Stroke Foundation’s StrokeLine information service. There, a team of medical professionals are available to provide advice, support and referrals.”

Mirela, who has almost completed her degree in health sciences, hopes to use her experiences to help others in the future.

“I want more people to know that aphasia cannot be controlled and that we need community support to overcome our communication problems,” Mirela said.