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Aphasia advocates urge more funding and services as City Council proclaims Aphasia Awareness Day
Summary
At a June 23 council meeting, the Pittsburgh Community Aphasia Center and people with aphasia urged expanded community aphasia centers, sustainable funding and transportation solutions after Council proclaimed Aphasia Awareness Day.
PITTSBURGH — Speakers at Pittsburgh City Council’s June 23 meeting urged the council to support expansion of community aphasia centers and sustainable funding after the council proclaimed June 23, 2026, Aphasia Awareness Day.
Councilwoman Strasburger read the proclamation recognizing the Pittsburgh Aphasia Community Group for its outreach and support. Chrissa, who identified herself as a speech pathologist and director of the Pittsburgh Community Aphasia Center, told council that the center has formed a Pennsylvania Coalition for Aphasia Advocacy, held 13 meetings with state legislators in the past year, and won a House resolution declaring June Aphasia Awareness month pending consideration by the Senate and the governor.
Chrissa said community aphasia centers reduce depression, improve quality of life and create lifelong support networks. She also described barriers: limited sustainable funding, transportation challenges, and gaps in access to speech-language pathology services after the early post-stroke period. “They receive speech language pathology services usually in the first four to six months of the onset of aphasia, and after that, they’re expected to live life navigating aphasia on their own,” she said.
Individuals with aphasia addressed council directly. Tina Harris said she regained her driver’s license and volunteers now after receiving support from the program. The transcript records the Pittsburgh Community Aphasia Center serves “over 60 individuals with aphasia” drawn from a wide regional area, and Chrissa said community centers have multiplied in recent years but that more sites are needed.
Why it matters: Community aphasia programs offer ongoing peer and therapy supports that speakers said are not reliably available through the traditional medical system. Advocates asked the city to highlight and help address funding, transportation, and access barriers as state-level recognition advances.
Council took no immediate fiscal action on the proclamations; advocates said they will continue outreach to state legislators and seek broader funding and program partnerships.
