Language is deep inside us. It’s “always” been there, connecting us with the world, expressing what we want, how we think, what hurts and heals us…
What happens when language is suddenly gone?
How do you get the you that is inside you out?
If with language comes identity, what happens when it disappears?
My very first guest, Sharon Deering, suffered a stroke in 2017 that took her language away. In our conversation for It’s About Language (Episode 1: With Language Comes Identity), which will air 9/17/20, she shares her story and her struggle with us to bring insights and hope to everyone who learns, uses, and struggles with language – that is, all of us.
I have been a wife, a mom, a Communication Resource Specialist from Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, a teacher, a specialist for Arlington ISD in foreign language, and a specialist for Vista Higher Learning. But all of that stopped one day when I had a stroke. Since then I have been trying to recover my language—any language. My thoughts and my dreams have changed from writing the great American novel to getting the next thought out. But my perspectives have not changed. I still cling to the faith I had as a child, knowing that He is faithful, no matter what. Join me, won’t you, in the quest for faithfulness. Join me, if you want to, in the book I am planning to write or the expansion essay from a patient’s perspective, or whatever our hands find to do. Just join me!
Discover more
- In this essay, Sharon tells about what it means to lose – and regain – the ability of language.
- Sharon tells the story of her stroke in this essay
- This bibliography offers resources to understand strokes, language, and recuperation.
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