we also must fight to change people's ideas of those who have speech
impairments!

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"What is real but compassion, as we move from birth to death?"
~~Greg Brown~~


> [Original Message]
> From: Meir Weiss <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 1/9/2006 6:09:02 AM
> Subject: Dick clark
>
> The time is NOW  to agitate for stroke// pediatric stroke
>
> Somehow the youngest get the short shrift of the wtorld
>
>  PLEASEE WRITE ASAP
>
>
>
>
>
> Dick Clark a hero to some
> TV appearance a year after his stroke. With obvious impairment, stroke
'isn't a
> pretty thing to look at,' one admirer says
>
> JOCELYN NOVECK
> AP
>
>
> Monday, January 09, 2006
>
>
> He sat stiffly behind a desk, one hand in front of him, one down at his
side.
> His words had the familiar slurred sound of a stroke victim. But his
cadence was
> brisk, he made himself clear, and most of all, he was there - on national
TV.
>
> Stroke survivors and their advocates said last week they were cheered and
> inspired by Dick Clark's New Year's Eve appearance, ringing in 2006 a
year after
> his debilitating stroke.
>
> "I think it's awesome," said Leanne Hendrix, who was 26 when she had a
stroke
> three years ago. "It was a tremendously courageous thing to do."
>
> Hendrix, a former Miss Arizona who lives in Phoenix, echoed a hope common
among
> stroke survivors interviewed: that the public might begin to treat them
with the
> respect and admiration given those who have overcome cancer or heart
attacks.
>
> "Survivors of those othr diseases seem to wear a badge of honour," said
Hendrix.
> But a stroke, with its obvious impairment, "maybe isn't a pretty thing to
look
> at. It's definitely not a sexy disease."
>
> "So for him to get up on national TV and say: 'This is what I am now' - I
have
> nothing but respect for him," she said.
>
> Diane Mulligan-Fairfield of the National Stroke Association, a U.S. public
> education organization, called Clark a "hero" for showing the world his
> condition.
>
> "Hero is not normally a word we associate with stroke survivors," she
said. "We
> are trying to change that."
>
> Clark's appearance on New Year's Rockin' Eve came a full year after the
December
> 2004 stroke that forced him to miss last year's show. There had been
intense
> speculation beforehand whether he'd be up to the task. The 76-year-old
> entertainer has given no interviews since his stroke.
>
> On New Year's Eve, seated inside a studio at Times Square, Clark began by
> immediately acknowledging his condition, saying it had been a "long, hard
fight"
> learning to walk and talk again. But, he said, "I wouldn't have missed
this for
> the world."
>
> His words were muffled, but he kept a quick pace and was, for the most
part,
> easy to understand during his brief appearances sprinkled through the
telecast.
> At midnight, he counted down the seconds as the ball dropped, then kissed
his
> wife, Kari, sitting next to him at his desk.
>
> While some found the appearance moving, others seemed to find it
inappropriate
> or depressing to see the ever-boyish, handsome Clark display his impaired
> condition in a TV universe where appearance is everything.
>
> "Viewers ... may well have been hoping the famous giant ball was the only
thing
> that would drop before the night was over," wrote Washington Post TV
critic Tom
> Shales. He said Clark looked "seriously debilitated," and called his
appearance
> "a gesture likely to strike some observers as courageous and others as
morbid."
>
> In the New York Times, reviewer Virginia Heffernan called Clark's
description of
> his speech ("not perfect") an "understatement," and wrote that sometimes,
"his
> impaired speech seemed comical," although mostly it was touching.
>
> The negative comments deeply angered Karl Guerra of Annapolis, Md., who
has been
> recovering from a stroke for the last five years. For the first three
years, he
> spent 10 hours a day working on his speech. He called Clark's recovery so
far
> "remarkable."
>
> "Let's face it, there are certain aspects of a stroke that make people
feel
> uncomfortable, and one of those is speech," Guerra said in a telephone
> interview.
>
> A doctor who treats stroke survivors said Clark's determination to go
ahead with
> his appearance is just the kind of goal that often helps patients with
their
> recovery.
>
> "In many diseases the emotional component - the determination to fight and
> pursue recovery - is part of the recovery itself," said Dr. Pierre Fayad,
> medical director of neurology at the University of Nebraska Medical
Centre.
>
> C The Gazette (Montreal) 2006
>
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> Copyright C 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks
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