Moving Toward Anti-Ableist Practices in Aphasia Rehabilitation and Research: A Viewpoint

Ableism is a pervasive set of beliefs that regard nondisabled bodies and minds as ideal and necessary to live a full life. Ableism manifests for people with aphasia as stigma and discrimination based on their language ability. We assert that ableism contributes to decreased quality of life for people with aphasia and should be actively challenged and disrupted by clinicians and researchers in the field.

We applied the Health Stigma and Discrimination Framework (HSDF) to outline how stigma and discrimination are perpetuated against people with aphasia on the basis of language ability and their downstream health and social consequences. We presented this framework at the Clinical Aphasiology Conference in 2023 and share themes and challenges that arose from this discussion and from our ongoing learning.

Applying the HSDF to aphasia outlined potential sequelae of ableism. We identified preliminary foci of future initiatives aimed at challenging ableist beliefs and practices and means to monitor the effectiveness of such interventions. Furthermore, we draw attention to the seeming tension between anti-ableist practices and traditional language rehabilitation goals. We assert that this tension may be a catalyst for fruitful discourse on how clinicians and researchers can resist ableism while honoring the lived experiences of people with aphasia and their goals for language rehabilitation. These discussions may be facilitated by existing models in disability studies (e.g., the political/relational model).

Clinicians and researchers are well positioned to challenge ableism and minimize the resultant health and social impacts for people living with aphasia. Anti-ableist practices are not antithetical to aphasia rehabilitation and can be thoughtfully integrated into rehabilitation practices and discourse.