I was reading in the Forester with great delight that Reel Alternatives would be screening the award-winning film adaptation of Jean-Dominique Bauby’s memoir The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly. What a wonderful coincidence that this film was to be shown in our community during May as May is Speech and Hearing Awareness Month!

This unfortunate story portrays the life of the magazine editor after he suffered a massive brain-stem stroke, resulting in “locked-in syndrome,” which left him unable to functionally use any part of his body except to blink with his left eyelid. This small movement became the portal from which he was able to communicate.

As I read through the article, however, I felt compelled to correct a statement in the film’s description, which read: “Bauby’s nurses develop an ingenious, if exhausting, method of communication, through which he painstakingly writes his memoirs. By listening to the letters of the alphabet and blinking when the correct one is uttered, he is able to preserve his final link to the outside world.”

In fact, it was a speech-language pathologist who implemented the system which allowed Bauby to communicate and write his memoir. In his memoir, upon which the film is based, Bauby indicates that Sandrine, his speech therapist, or “guardian angel” as he calls her, “is the one who set up the communication system without which I would be cut off from the world.”

He goes on to say, “Speech therapy is an art that deserves to be more widely known. You cannot imagine the acrobatics your tongue mechanically performs in order to produce all the sounds of a language. On my birthday Sandrine managed to get me to pronounce the whole alphabet more or less intelligibly. I could not have had a better present.”

May is Speech and Hearing Awareness Month, the one month in the year when thousands of professionals involved with the treatment of speech, language and hearing disorders come together to participate in a public awareness campaign that encourages early detection and prevention of communication disorders, and seeks to increase the public’s sensitivity to the challenges faced by individuals experiencing them.

Many of us take our hearing and ability to speak for granted. Whether we are chatting with a group of friends, playing on the basketball court or listening to the radio, our ability to communicate is vital in our everyday activities. For millions of Canadians, however, speech, language or hearing problems are a daily challenge affecting the work/school, family and social aspects of their lives.

Speech-language pathologists (SLP’s), audiologists (Auds) and communication disorders assistants (CDAs) are highly trained professionals who work with Canadians of all ages dealing with many different types of communication disorders and can help people make their lives richer, more productive and enjoyable through improved communication skills.

Whether working with a hearing-impaired child or an elderly person recovering from a stroke, they strive tirelessly to help improve the quality of life and health of the people they serve.  

I hope that viewers of this film come away with a renewed respect for our gift to communicate with each other, in whatever form that may be!

Brenda Liddle,
Speech-language pathologist,
Huntsville District Memorial Hospital