“I have APHASIA, but aphasia does not have me”!

By this motto, I mean that aphasia does not win over me! There are daily communication challenges that aphasia brings, but there are daily “wins” that I acknowledge.

Today I had to make several business calls. I find that most persons who work on the phone a lot, tend to speak too fast for my to process all information that say.

Today, I advocated for my communication needs by identifying myself as a person with aphasia. I shared a friendly definition of aphasia, how aphasia does not impact my intelligence, and that over 2 million people in the United States have aphasia.

I listed 3 ways that the customer service rep. could help me have a successful phone call:

  • Speak slowly and clearly
  • Say all numbers as single digits (instead of giving an address as 187 West St. say “one, eight, seven” West St.
  • Please confirm any numbers I give you any numbers (and I will give them to you one digit as a time)

Yep, 4 phone calls, 3 addresses, one LOOONNNNGGGG confirmation number with letters and digits, and all were successful! I handled my business and count that as a BIG WIN!

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