Life for Martin began as a normal happy, healthy child until the age of 12 when a brain infection changed everything. It left him trapped inside his body and unable to communicate or even to move his eyes. He failed every conceivable brain activity test, his family were told that he was ‘as good as gone’ and they took him home to keep him comfortable until he died. But he didn’t die. For another 12 years, Martin’s family cared for his unresponsive body, dressing and feeding him, bathing him and taking him to a care centre each day. As a result he spent the next 14 years of his life in institutions for the profoundly intellectually and physically disabled - everyone believing he didn’t really understand anything.
However, his life began to change in 2001 when a person who was caring for him at the time happened to see a program about AAC on television. This set a chain of events in motion that ultimately led to where he is today. He went for an AAC assessment, where it was discovered that not only did he have the ability to communicate but that he understood far more than was originally believed. Suddenly he and his parents, were thrust into the world of AAC.
What nobody knew was that sometime during the early years of his locked-in condition, Martin began to wake up, and was fully aware of everything going on around him. He was just unable to communicate that to anybody. This is an unmissable podcast of his story. Listen to his parents describe that period in their lives; listen to Martin himself describe in heartbreaking detail the thoughts that he had no way of sharing; and how once he was able to alert people to his presence and with the help of assistive technology, he can now communicate and live a wonderfully full, normal life.
Credits: Interviewee – Lulu Miller Program: Invisibillia