An informative and important memoir spreading awareness of Developmental Language Disorder.
Communication is one of the most powerful skills we have. It’s vital for learning, building connections with people, working and navigating day-to-day life. Damien was born with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) which is a speech and language disability that affects Damien by causing “sentences to come out muddled and slow”. In his memoir, Finding a Voice, Damien shares how DLD has affected his life as well as the support systems he’s found with charities such as Afasic and the work he does with them in his adult life.
I liked the structure of Finding a Voice and the way that Damien takes us through his life. The book moves between Damien’s life, more information about DLD, and other topics including the history of some of the locations mentioned and the requirements of web development. These comprehensive details means that Damien’s enthusiasm for knowledge is abundantly clear and it shines through the pages. The writing is conversational and Damien’s explanations of topics from DLD to the coding language needed for a website were easy to understand. Even with setbacks, Damien is determined to succeed and his optimism creates an endearing voice to read.
In recent years, with the aphasia diagnosis of Chris Kamara and Bruce Willis, there has been some increase in awareness of the different diagnoses that impact communication. I think that Finding a Voice is an important read for anyone looking to understand DLD. As it educated me about DLD, I would say that Finding a Voice is succeeding in its mission of raising awareness about the disorder and the work done by the charity Afasic. I hope that it reaches even more readers so that more people become aware of this hidden disability.