BALTIMORE, MD (Aphasia Access Leadership Summit, 9:30 AM, Saturday, March 9, 2019.) I presented Aphasia, a national disease that no one has ever heard of: A Study in Public Awareness of Aphasia at 20 Hospitals in Florida.
The number one gap summary in the Aphasia in North America white paper is: Insufficient awareness and knowledge of aphasia by health care providers and the wider public. Aphasia affects about two million Americans and is more common than Parkinson’s Disease, cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy. Nearly 180,000 Americans acquire the disorder each year. However, most people have never heard of it. (National Aphasia Association).
I studied the websites of 20 hospitals in northeast Florida finding that only four websites indicate ANY information about aphasia from their home page or their “Search our site” box. Sixteen (16) of the twenty (20) sites using this or similar responses, “We’re Sorry! No results were found. Please try your search again.”
By the time I got back to my chair, a friend ran over showing me his search with his phone…his local hospital had the same response! The Aphasia community is on a mission to inform the medical community and the wider public about aphasia.