What is Aphasia?

As a result, people have been far from kind. Years ago at one of her daughters school plays, for example, as Mary was trying to volunteer, another parent rudely snapped at her "Are you stupid?"

The comments hurt, but O'Brien forgives the rudness of strangers. "They don't know," she said. O'Brien has a card and key chain she carries in her purse, both explain - has aphasia. "Please be patient," it reads. "I have trouble talking."

Aphasia, which affects about 1 million people in the United States, is a word many have never heard.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders, aphasia is an acquired disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain responsible for language, usually located on the left hemisphere. It generally occurs suddenly and many times as a result of stroke or head injury. It does not, however, affect intelligence. Aphasia also can develop slowly due to a brain tumor, an infection or dementia.
Aphasia impairs the expression and understanding of language, as well as reading and writing, although sometimes people who find it difficult to talk are able to fluently sing or recite automatic speech that lies deep in their memory.
There are three broad categories of aphasia: fluent, nonfluent and global. Each category has varying degrees of severity.

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