Why does this Kansas woman sound British?

Why does this Kansas woman sound British?.    <<Click the LINK.  This is the story of yet another fellow Foreign Accent Syndrome friend of mine.  Here she is having done a story with KWCH 12 Eyewitness News in Wichita, Kansas.

What I really like about this story, is that they allow her to tell the profound way in which it suddenly turned her life around and didn’t either sensationalize it, nor make her out to be something peculiar. Rather the reporter stressed that the occurrences are rare, but kept the story one of a positive and interesting note. It pulls the audience in to learn more.

I absolutely am thrilled with how Ronda is teaching English to students though she has a foreign accented voice. She is not daunted, but is using her new voice as she points out in a way which actually helps her to interact more with her students than she would have otherwise.

That’s making lemonade out of lemons! Now, if more people will come forward to investigate why this happens and actively seek to connect and study the phenomena, maybe we will see that it is not as rare as it thought. Maybe the medical research will endeavor to actively study those of us who wish to offer ourselves and our experiences for the sake of scientific improvement in this area. At the very least, this is getting legitimized by reputable reports such as this, so that less ignorant and vile statements will be made to those who suffer from a malady which can as of yet not really be easily explained.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Keep on being kind to one another : )

Some Recent News FAS videos

One of the most important things that we who suffer from Foreign Accent Syndrome wish to do is to find out not only why we are having the problems that we do, but also to help grow the collective understanding of not only of the disorder but most especially the PEOPLE who are currently suffering, their care, their care-givers and loved ones and those who have yet to step into those positions.

Therefore, I am very happy to add to my blog these links to these news stories which were done by JAX TV station in Florida. It is exciting to see some media attention being given to the disorder. Let some people who believe that this is not a “real” problem become less ignorant by getting a little exposure and also help those who are currently dealing with similar stories to take heart.

Here are recent videoes done with fellow Foreign Accent Syndrome friends of mine done by local Florida news TV stations.

This first one is a longer raw interview with Dr. Jack Ryalls from University of Central Florida. He is well known for his expertise in this field of study of the very rare disorder. So it is especially good to hear his insights in this more lengthy piece on what is involved in Foreign Accent Syndrome from his perspective.
Interview with Dr. Jack Ryalls Fox30

Pattie Yakaboski,
Pattie: Finding Her Voice

Video of Paula Westberry
Paula on JAX 2011.11

Frisbee Squirrel Days

Okay, so you may be asking yourself, “what is a frisbee squirrel anyway?” Let me explain. You know when those furry little varmits get particularly active and don’t watch out when they cross the street. They can meet up with an automobile who cuts short their nut-gathering life right there in the middle of the road.

Should this happen in an area that is not frequented by road-kill restraunteers (like Kentucky or Arkansas) or buzzards, a few more car tire passes placed across the remains and a couple of days of drying and stiffening; then; wallah… you have yourself a frisbee squirrel.

Now that you have the proper definition, you can better appreciate why I chose to use the “frisbee squirrel” as an accurate descriptor for my body on some days. On really, excessively weak days I even say “transparent” frisbee squirrel day implying run over even more!

If this were a Bugs Bunny cartoon, maybe someone could just pick me up, shake me a little from side to side, and then blow me back up (like a balloon) into shape!

As it is, I have discovered that severe Chronic Fatigue makes my Foreign Accent Syndrome much worse (so no talking), I am too weak to do anything (so bedrest) and confusion makes reading and writing difficult. That is why you may not hear or see me much, but will see … It’s a Frisbee squirrel day @@=~

Two of My Foreign Accent Syndrome Sisters

This morning I received word on my Facebook wall that the NBC Today show

Kay Russell and Sarah Colwill

had a story about Foreign Accent Syndrome on it. This reminded this acquaintance of me and he told me about the broadcast as well as sent a “God Bless You”. I love that! He remembers that I have had it since May 12, 2009 after a major migraine makes my midwest farmer’s daughter accent turn into Dutch/Swedish/German “Eastern European” sounding speech. I just praise God I can still sing regularly.

I regularly monitor the topic Foreign Accent Syndrome on the internet and web trying to get latest scientific news. That’s how I found out about Sarah Colwill last Spring. I reached out to her on FaceBook and am happy to have another FAS friend.

So I went to NBC Today online and there I found this video article about my British friend Sarah Colwill and Kay Russell who both have Foreign Accent Syndrome. We have been Facebook talking since Sarah came down with it also as a result of migraine back in the spring of this year.

It turns out that Kay Russell lives only about an hour away from Sarah so they got to meet each other with all the excitement that I had in meeting Fisher Fran last year. To find someone else who suffers from the same rare malady helps a person feel less alone. Even if there isn’t a cure. There is just something blessed about being able to share in the depth of understanding that comes from such a thing.

I am grateful to the NBC Today show for doing the story to help bring more awareness to the fact that Foreign Accent Syndrome does exist and that it does so greatly impact peoples lives. Yet, even when science doesn’t have the answers to the “why” or “what do we do about it” questions, people can carry on with hope. That’s a message that everyone needs to hear!

Well, here is the embedded link to watch the story, enjoy. FAS Women Bond on Today Show

And if you would be kind enough to comment to NBC for doing the story or here, it would be an encouragement.

Video Greeting from Eastside Ellen

Just a quick heavily accented video greeting for you… THANKS FOR VISITING MY SITE.

What can we do?

I see it happening again. I have a column on my Tweetdeck where I keep my ear out for people talking about Foreign Accent Syndrome. Since local doctors don’t have a protocol for how to help me, I am forced to do anything I can to help myself.

What I am seeing now is another wave of people learning of Foreign Accent Syndrome for the first time. It has been over sixteen months since my adventures into the world of a foreign sounding person started. I had so hoped that my speech would have returned as quickly and magically as it had changed. But No! I’m still having to think very hard when I speak to correct such things as “what you are looking for?” when I ask my husband what he is searching for. I make myself “fix” things, because I don’t won’t to have them get worse.

The word “people” still wants to come out “Pee-pools” and lately I’ve had a very difficult time saying “wolf”. The long “A” sound is always a tough one especially at the beginning of a word.  The word “yes-ter-day” was one of the very first words to give me repeated trouble in pronunciation as it sounds like I am slamming a stop in between each syllable…but I don’t seem to be able to smooth it out. Grr!  Then there’s probably one of the kid’s favorites… “Dar”….. as in “their dog” or “it’s over there” … only it comes out dahr.

Sorry for the side note of frustration, but as I see the Autumn leaves preparing for winter and hard times ahead, I am also in dread. My husband has been out of work from a job he had for 16 years and our income and benefits are drastically changing because of it. That means that I am even more likely to have to continue suffering on my own without any help to try and make things better.

You see it’s not just accented speech. It’s all the effort that goes into trying to correct the sounds and place the words in the proper order and put the stress and rhythm in the right place on TOP of the scrutiny I receive for sounding so profoundly different.

Here is  a link to a current article making the internet buz with comment on FAS   http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/20/when-brain-damage-makes-you-sound-foreign/?hpt=T2

As I see these people commenting on articles that they’ve just seen about Foreign Accent Syndrome, some people are genuinely shocked or intrigued. However, there are so very many who comment cruelly on the misfortune of others, saying it’s fake or a ploy for attention, or they wish they could sound a certain way like that. Oh my!

I want so very much to connect with other scientists, sufferers, speech pathologists, but I am out of resources. I am relying on my writing, the internets reach, networking and the power of prayer to try to get something positive done before a long, cold, depressing winter sets in.

I invite you to look around on this website for other articles with the tag “fas”. In particular I posted one called “WHAT IT WAS VS. WHAT IT IS“.  Many of these posts have links In which you will hear for yourself what a profound change took place in my voice within two days time.

So the question remains; what can we do? I am one who would gladly subject myself to testing for the benefit of scientific understanding, but have no insurance, research or other monies to do so… even if a doctor or university jumped on the chance to study the phenomena. Being a formerly pre-medical and now freelance graphic artist communicator, I am a trained observer so I have tons of useful data, but what authority will gather and effectively use it for the greatest benefit?  What CAN we do?