Maverick
06-02-2004, 09:59 AM
Receiving the Gift of Speech
The Nation (Nairobi)
May 12, 2004
Phyllis Nyambura
Nairobi
Standing 5 feet 7 inches, Bernadette Okoth is striking. She has a warm, affectionate smile, that easily draws people to her. At 21, she holds a diploma in information science and dreams of getting a good job soon.
But her intelligence and gaiety notwithstanding, her prospects for employment seem bleak. Okoth was born with a stammer. As a result, she failed her visa application interview at the Australian High Commission, putting paid her dreams of going to Australia for further studies a month ago. It was not the first time that her language disorder had come between her and her dreams.
She got her first taste of peer cruelty at six years when, upon starting school, she realised that she was viewed as abnormal by her classmates because of her stammering. "We all had to read aloud and answer questions in class. But despite my determination not to, I always ended up stammering when reading. The other children would burst into laughter, which only made me stammer more. Eventually, I would become speechless altogether," she recalls.
The situation got even worse when she went to high school. "No one took my stammering positively- neither the teachers, nor the other students. There were always bouts of laughter whenever I tried speaking or reading. It was so frustrating that my self-esteem hit rock bottom," says Okoth, asserting that the situation is no different in the outside world.
Like Okoth, Erick Karasha, 21, stammers due to a hereditary language disorder. "My maternal grandfather stammers like me," he volunteers. The accounts student also had his fair share of teasing and bullying during his school days. To date, he says, dating remains a nightmare. "Girls view me as abnormal and weird, yet I am perfectly normal," he says.
According to speech therapists, people with language disorders may not only have difficulties expressing themselves, but also in understanding what is said to them. The problem often lies in the language centre of the brain and, quite often, reading and writing skills are also affected.
Now, Okoth and Karasha are working to improve their speech. They attend a stammerers' support group at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi every Thursday. In fact, Okoth wants to go even further and become a speech therapist herself. "It is only the visa that is holding me back. I have already been admitted to a University in Australia for a course in speech therapy."
In the past, language disorders, especially among children, were viewed as irreversible. Uninformed parents watched their children lose their self-esteem while they themselves were blamed for their children's condition. But this need not be so.
According to Emmah Shah and Reyhan Erguden, both speech therapists at the Aga Khan Hospital, children with language disorders should be treated even before they begin school to prevent them from developing behavioural, social and literacy problems.
"Children who are brought in when they are older usually have developed more severe problems, which take a much longer time to deal with," says Shah.
Karasha wishes his parents had had access to this information earlier and enrolled him for speech therapy sessions. "It would have saved me a great deal of agony," he says. Erguden concurs. " A lack of understanding of the child's problem means he or she can experience failure, which can lead to isolation and low self-esteem."
In addition to congenital problems, language disorders can be caused by stroke, head injuries or absence of oxygen in the brain. According to experts, an estimated 1.2 million people suffer from communication disorders in Kenya.
Two years ago, 40-year-old, Stephen Gachingiri could talk normally and was working as a promotion manager when carjackers struck and hit him on the head with an axe. Stephen was unconscious for days, and when he came round, he could not express himself. Luckily, two weeks after he was discharged, someone introduced him to speech therapists at Aga Khan Hospital, and today he is grateful that he can speak with little difficulty.
"I had to undergo surgery because I suffered a very deep cut on the head. But when I tried to speak, the words formed in my brain but I could not convert them into speech. It is only through Emma's help and God's grace that am able to speak today," he says.
But he was not so lucky when it came to his job. "My life changed. When my employer learnt that I could no longer express myself eloquently, he frustrated me so much that I eventually resigned. As the sole breadwinner, I had to relocate my family to my rural home in Karatina."
Adds Gachingiri, who holds a bachelor of commerce degree: "I have discovered that society is cruel to people with language disorders. I apply for jobs and when the interviewers realise that I have a speech problem, they subtly dismiss me. I agonise over it, since many people do not understand that my intellect is intact and that I can work like a normal person. Worse still, strangers think I am drunk. I have to keep explaining my condition to them. I strongly feel that people should not view us as disabled and feel sorry for us but support us instead," he stresses.
Unlike Gachingiri, Bishop Duncan Mbogo is able to lead a normal life despite his speech problems. An evangelist from Thika, Mbogo, 52, lost his voice box to throat cancer and now uses an an artificial one.
"After the surgery, I was able to go back to my work as an evangelist. However, it took time for people to get used to my speaking apparatus. When I am preaching people ask, 'Who is that speaking like a robot?' But this does not bother me," says Mbogo.
Martin Ngugi, an accountant at the University of Nairobi, has also been lucky. After a head injury inflicted by thugs, his employer and friends were very understanding. "I could not talk for five months after beng beaten by thugs. It was extremely frustrating, until I came to Aga Khan hospital and the therapists gradually assisted me to regain my speech. My employer, colleagues, and bosses were very understanding. They understood that my mathematical capability was not affected," says Ngugi humorously.
Says Shah: "Adults usually develop aphasia, meaning language disorders arising from a stroke or head injury. This condition can be transient, occurring only in the initial hours after the stroke or injury, or it can be a lifelong condition, affecting the person's ability to work, live independently and carry out their role within the family."
Felista Siwa, 45, is an example of a person whose life was seriously affected by a stroke. One day, Siwa a mother of four and former hairdresser she suffered a stroke and collapsed as she was cooking. The stroke left her paralysed on one side and unable to communicate. Today Siwa, who attends an aphasia support group at the Aga Khan Hospital, can barely talk and has had to be assisted by family members. But with the help she is getting, say her two daughters, Maureen and Pauline, they are optimistic that she will recover her speech.
Victor Arika's story is an example of the success of speech therapy. A week before his wedding day, the city-based lawyer, was travelling from Kisumu to Nairobi, when he got was involved in a car crash. As a result, he started having vocal and lung problems. "I was could neither write nor speak. I went for vocal chord surgery in South Africa and later joined the speech therapy sessions here. At first I used to talk like a baby but today people marvel at the improvement in my ability to speak," says Arika, who has fully recovered his speech.
Despite the large number of people suffering from speech disorder, there are only four speech therapists in the country and only two institutions that cater for people with speech disorders - Kenyatta National Hospital and Aga Khan Hospital.
"With more than 1.2 million people suffering and cases of assault and accidents increasing, there is need for the government to look into the matter. Those interested in the area have to travel to Australia, Europe, India, South Africa, or US to study," laments Shah.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200405120045.html
The Nation (Nairobi)
May 12, 2004
Phyllis Nyambura
Nairobi
Standing 5 feet 7 inches, Bernadette Okoth is striking. She has a warm, affectionate smile, that easily draws people to her. At 21, she holds a diploma in information science and dreams of getting a good job soon.
But her intelligence and gaiety notwithstanding, her prospects for employment seem bleak. Okoth was born with a stammer. As a result, she failed her visa application interview at the Australian High Commission, putting paid her dreams of going to Australia for further studies a month ago. It was not the first time that her language disorder had come between her and her dreams.
She got her first taste of peer cruelty at six years when, upon starting school, she realised that she was viewed as abnormal by her classmates because of her stammering. "We all had to read aloud and answer questions in class. But despite my determination not to, I always ended up stammering when reading. The other children would burst into laughter, which only made me stammer more. Eventually, I would become speechless altogether," she recalls.
The situation got even worse when she went to high school. "No one took my stammering positively- neither the teachers, nor the other students. There were always bouts of laughter whenever I tried speaking or reading. It was so frustrating that my self-esteem hit rock bottom," says Okoth, asserting that the situation is no different in the outside world.
Like Okoth, Erick Karasha, 21, stammers due to a hereditary language disorder. "My maternal grandfather stammers like me," he volunteers. The accounts student also had his fair share of teasing and bullying during his school days. To date, he says, dating remains a nightmare. "Girls view me as abnormal and weird, yet I am perfectly normal," he says.
According to speech therapists, people with language disorders may not only have difficulties expressing themselves, but also in understanding what is said to them. The problem often lies in the language centre of the brain and, quite often, reading and writing skills are also affected.
Now, Okoth and Karasha are working to improve their speech. They attend a stammerers' support group at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi every Thursday. In fact, Okoth wants to go even further and become a speech therapist herself. "It is only the visa that is holding me back. I have already been admitted to a University in Australia for a course in speech therapy."
In the past, language disorders, especially among children, were viewed as irreversible. Uninformed parents watched their children lose their self-esteem while they themselves were blamed for their children's condition. But this need not be so.
According to Emmah Shah and Reyhan Erguden, both speech therapists at the Aga Khan Hospital, children with language disorders should be treated even before they begin school to prevent them from developing behavioural, social and literacy problems.
"Children who are brought in when they are older usually have developed more severe problems, which take a much longer time to deal with," says Shah.
Karasha wishes his parents had had access to this information earlier and enrolled him for speech therapy sessions. "It would have saved me a great deal of agony," he says. Erguden concurs. " A lack of understanding of the child's problem means he or she can experience failure, which can lead to isolation and low self-esteem."
In addition to congenital problems, language disorders can be caused by stroke, head injuries or absence of oxygen in the brain. According to experts, an estimated 1.2 million people suffer from communication disorders in Kenya.
Two years ago, 40-year-old, Stephen Gachingiri could talk normally and was working as a promotion manager when carjackers struck and hit him on the head with an axe. Stephen was unconscious for days, and when he came round, he could not express himself. Luckily, two weeks after he was discharged, someone introduced him to speech therapists at Aga Khan Hospital, and today he is grateful that he can speak with little difficulty.
"I had to undergo surgery because I suffered a very deep cut on the head. But when I tried to speak, the words formed in my brain but I could not convert them into speech. It is only through Emma's help and God's grace that am able to speak today," he says.
But he was not so lucky when it came to his job. "My life changed. When my employer learnt that I could no longer express myself eloquently, he frustrated me so much that I eventually resigned. As the sole breadwinner, I had to relocate my family to my rural home in Karatina."
Adds Gachingiri, who holds a bachelor of commerce degree: "I have discovered that society is cruel to people with language disorders. I apply for jobs and when the interviewers realise that I have a speech problem, they subtly dismiss me. I agonise over it, since many people do not understand that my intellect is intact and that I can work like a normal person. Worse still, strangers think I am drunk. I have to keep explaining my condition to them. I strongly feel that people should not view us as disabled and feel sorry for us but support us instead," he stresses.
Unlike Gachingiri, Bishop Duncan Mbogo is able to lead a normal life despite his speech problems. An evangelist from Thika, Mbogo, 52, lost his voice box to throat cancer and now uses an an artificial one.
"After the surgery, I was able to go back to my work as an evangelist. However, it took time for people to get used to my speaking apparatus. When I am preaching people ask, 'Who is that speaking like a robot?' But this does not bother me," says Mbogo.
Martin Ngugi, an accountant at the University of Nairobi, has also been lucky. After a head injury inflicted by thugs, his employer and friends were very understanding. "I could not talk for five months after beng beaten by thugs. It was extremely frustrating, until I came to Aga Khan hospital and the therapists gradually assisted me to regain my speech. My employer, colleagues, and bosses were very understanding. They understood that my mathematical capability was not affected," says Ngugi humorously.
Says Shah: "Adults usually develop aphasia, meaning language disorders arising from a stroke or head injury. This condition can be transient, occurring only in the initial hours after the stroke or injury, or it can be a lifelong condition, affecting the person's ability to work, live independently and carry out their role within the family."
Felista Siwa, 45, is an example of a person whose life was seriously affected by a stroke. One day, Siwa a mother of four and former hairdresser she suffered a stroke and collapsed as she was cooking. The stroke left her paralysed on one side and unable to communicate. Today Siwa, who attends an aphasia support group at the Aga Khan Hospital, can barely talk and has had to be assisted by family members. But with the help she is getting, say her two daughters, Maureen and Pauline, they are optimistic that she will recover her speech.
Victor Arika's story is an example of the success of speech therapy. A week before his wedding day, the city-based lawyer, was travelling from Kisumu to Nairobi, when he got was involved in a car crash. As a result, he started having vocal and lung problems. "I was could neither write nor speak. I went for vocal chord surgery in South Africa and later joined the speech therapy sessions here. At first I used to talk like a baby but today people marvel at the improvement in my ability to speak," says Arika, who has fully recovered his speech.
Despite the large number of people suffering from speech disorder, there are only four speech therapists in the country and only two institutions that cater for people with speech disorders - Kenyatta National Hospital and Aga Khan Hospital.
"With more than 1.2 million people suffering and cases of assault and accidents increasing, there is need for the government to look into the matter. Those interested in the area have to travel to Australia, Europe, India, South Africa, or US to study," laments Shah.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200405120045.html