#I'm not gonna be able to say 'im having aphasia

[thatwitchrevan]

the main language discourse that inspired that post was the discussion around the term 'nonverbal' and its related terms such as 'semi (non)verbal' and 'going nonverbal.'

I lose the ability to speak or even communicate effectively over text due to brain fog from migraine, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. It's infrequent but becoming more frequent and really distressing. I've never known quite how to describe it because to me, 'going nonverbal' seems the most intuitive because it communicates temporary inability to communicate in two short, common words.

I genuinely don't know what else I'd call it. I don't generally call myself nonverbal or semiverbal because I only become incapable of speaking under specific infrequent circumstances. I don't use any form of 'mute'/'mutism' to describe it because to me that implies a physical inability to speak whereas this is a mental inability.

But there's discourse around who is allowed to use 'nonverbal' as a term and in what circumstances, even tho at its core it's just a word that means 'not talking' and can be modified by context to be understood in all kinds of nuanced circumstances. I'm not aware of an alternative to describe my experience.

I value listening to and being sensitive to other people's frustrations with language and their requests for how language they relate to is used, but this doesn't mean I have no need or right to describe my circumstances, or that the burden is on me to find or create a term that is both useful and doesn't encroach on people with overlapping but different experience.

I also think it's ironic that we're requiring specificity in language from people who are trying to describe their various issues with using language to communicate. Just saying.