Source: Radio New Zealand
Many people have never come across the term aphasia – and if they have their most likely point of reference is actor Bruce Willis, who was diagnosed with the speech disorder in 2022.
But in New Zealand alone it affects around 30,000 people – more than the number of people who have Parkinson’s and muscular dystrophy combined.
Aphasia, which literally means ‘absence of speech’, is the loss of the ability to speak or understand spoken or written language, due to disease or injury to the language area of the brain.
