Grad Students Raise Aphasia Awareness

05/19/2015 

Cortland Mayor Brian Tobin, at the urging of SUNY Cortland Communication Sciences and Disorders graduate students, tonight will formally proclaim June as National Aphasia Awareness Month.

The action will launch a series of local awareness activities by the 14 students in the master’s program in connection with the National Aphasia Association and the American Heart/Stroke Association.

Aphasia is a language disorder, frequently caused by a stroke, in which people have difficulty finding the right words to express what they want to say. They often unknowingly use nonsensical language in their efforts to communicate.

“There are people in this community with aphasia that are living fairly functional lives but have trouble with daily activities like making a phone call to straighten out a bill or ordering in a restaurant,” said Eileen Gilroy, a lecturer in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

“They need members of their community to understand that people with aphasia are not intellectually impaired. They are cognitively intact,” Gilroy said. “They may just need a little more time and patience.”

Gilroy is teaching part of the summer session for students working toward a master’s degree in communication sciences and disorders. She is also coordinating the aphasia awareness outreach program, after winning a $350 SUNY Cortland faculty development grant.

That program will kick off tonight at Cortland City Hall with Tobin’s proclamation and a short public explanation of the disorder by Gilroy and three graduate students: Kimberly Crispill, Colleen Hinrichs and Nicole Scalera.

It continues June 8, when the students will operate an information booth at the annual enrichment day conference held by the Cortland County Area Agency on Aging in Corey Student Union.

Students also plan to make presentations in Walden Place on June 5 and at Access for Independence on June 19.

More than a million people in the United States are thought to struggle with aphasia, including more than half of all stroke survivors. Through therapy with speech and language specialists, many survivors are able to improve their ability to communicate.