Association Internationale Aphasie
AIA is a non-profit organization. It consists of representatives from national aphasia associations, particularly in Europe, but also in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Argentina and Australia.
What is aphasia?
Aphasia is an impairment in a person’s ability to comprehend or formulate language because of dysfunction in specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine, but aphasia due to stroke is estimated to be 0.1–0.4% in developed countries. Aphasia can also be the result of brain tumors, epilepsy, autoimmune neurological diseases, brain infections, or neurodegenerative diseases (such as dementias).
The difficulties of people with aphasia can range from occasional trouble finding words, to losing the ability to speak, read, or write; intelligence, however, is unaffected. Expressive language and receptive language can both be affected as well. Aphasia also affects visual language such as sign language.
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Latest News
The LIHA – Liga Hispanoamericana De Afasia (Hispano-American Liga of People with Aphasia) invites all countries in the world to participate in an international...
by Marija Michaud On 22 May and 23 May 2023 we attended the General Assembly of the European Disability Forum (EDF) and the meeting of the...
La la la la la la and so on with vowels began singing in the Aphasia choir in Budapest. The songs are adapted for non-speakers...
Presentations of yearly activities by AIA member countries on November 19, 2022. / Présentations des activités annuelles par les pays membres de l’AIA le 19...
People living with aphasia visited France and Switzerland and proved that speech itself and different languages are not an obstacle, only the will counts! /Jernej...
Nothing about us without us is the slogan of the European Disability Forum Maria Michaud European Disability Forum – EDF is the voice of...
Aphasia in many languages
This website informs people in all countries around the world about aphasia, the consequences of having aphasia, and possible ways to learn how to cope with this language handicap.
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Malta
Ireland
Scotland
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Chile
Mexico
Canada
Australia
Belgium
USA
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Papiamentu
Austria
Switzerland
Quebeck
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UK
Turkey
Sweden
Swahili
Spain
Slovenia
Serbia
Russia
Romania
Portugal
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Papiamentu
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Kurdish
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Albanian
Italy
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About Us
Jernej Sluga with colleague at speakeasy conference. Warwick.
Association Internationale Aphasia, AIA is a non-profit organization. It was founded by the late Raymond Bassem. It consists of representatives from national aphasia associations, particularly in Europe, but also in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Argentina and Australia. AIA has its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
The Registered Office of Association Internationale Aphasie (AIA) is under the following address:
c/o Maison des Associations Internationales
40 Rue Washington, 1050 Brussels
The development and launch of the Association Internationale Aphasie (AIA) – Aphasia International Association, was the vision of Raymond Bassam and other people with aphasia from the Belgian Federation of Francophone Aphasics (FéBAF) supported by colleagues from aphasia organisations across Europe. The first European Aphasia Congress was organised in Brussels on 26/27 May 1989 was attended by 418 people from 20 different countries and it was then that AIA was born.
AIA was formally constituted as a Belgian International non-profit organisation (AISBL) and began its work creating better links between aphasia organisations from different countries. Notably, further European Aphasia Congress meetings took place in Montreal 1993 and Würzburg 1995. An International guide for aphasics was published in 1994.
Since then, the delegates of AIA – one from each member country – have met once a year for the General Assembly meeting. At this meeting, issues related to aphasia are discussed with the aim of improving the communication among member countries and organisations around the world. Many examples of best practice and ideas for joint projects have been discussed. Day-to-day matters are managed by the elected President and elected Board, which includes Secretary, Treasurer and general administrators – all serving a 3 year term. All positions are voluntary.
A turning point in the history of AIA was in October 2008 at the AIA General Assembly meeting held in Tallinn, Estonia. A provisional Board of Governors took over the leadership of AIA until an extraordinary GA was held in April 2009 in Brussels to discuss AIA’s future and issues including how to make AIA more accessible to possible member countries. This meeting was followed by a regular GA meeting in September 2009 in Brussels, where the future of AIA, questions about the constitution, new statutes and membership were discussed.
As of September 2009, AIA began its process of renewal and rebuilding the organisation. Dr Jacqueline Stark (Austria) was re-elected as President at the 2012 General Assembly meeting in Toulouse, France and led the organisation for a further term. From 2016- 2019, Presidency of AIA passed to Melanie Derbyshire (UK) and during this time the organisation worked hard to involve more people with aphasia both as contributors at meetings and as members of the Board.
The 2020 elected President is Jernej Sluga (Slovenia) and once again AIA members are pleased to have someone living with aphasia in the leadership role.
Participants at Speakeasy conference Warwick.