Jernej Sluga

Four years ago, in 2019, the General Secretary of the International Aphasia Association AIA, Melanie Derbyshire, invited me to England for a conference about aphasia, organized by one of the many UK-based aphasia organisations, Speakeasy. However, shortly before the conference, the covid-19 epidemic began, which required the conference to move online for that year and several years after.

This year, the time has finally come to travel to England and meet in person. The Speakeasy organization held a conference on April 14th and 15th, 2024 in Coventry, England. As a representative of the AIA association, I was happy to attend it, together with Miša Krajnc, head of the aphasia group in Maribor.

The title and main topic of the conference was Well-being and Aphasia. In two days, numerous lectures were held on life with aphasia, with an emphasis on how to improve its quality.

The second day of the conference, a small fair took place, where several British organizations in the field of aphasia presented their stands: Speakeasy, Say Aphasia, Stroke Association, Aphasia Re-Connect, Chest, heart & Stroke Scotland, Tavistock Trust for Aphasia, Talk, Different Strokes, Cuespeak and Aphasia Support.

The presentations of sexuality after a stroke, an aphasic choir, and a group of aphasists who also play golf caught my interest the most. I have introduced the AIA association.

I would especially like to thank the conference organizers Gill Jackson and Gill Pearl, who took excellent care of the event and for us. As always at such meetings, I met many positive-minded people, with whom even speaking in English ran more fluently.