Making oneself heard without talking
First published in Hamilton Spectator November 30, 2000
One of the profound gifts that God gave to man is the amazing capability of being understood by the spoken word. It is the way we share knowledge, dreams, hopes, desires, needs, thoughts, etc. What is life like for those of us who have this profound gift taken away? Using figures based on United States estimates (American Speech-Language- Hearing Association, 1991), there are over 200,000 individuals in Canada who are unable to use speech as their main form of communication. The reasons are many cerebral palsy, stroke, vehicle accidents, neurological diseases. Who are we? What do we do?