Ljoc @TheTable: Navigating the cost of long-term care
Forty-nine years of marriage builds a bond that not even a disease like ALS can break. I can still understand her, basically, Butch Darlington said about his wife, Margie. We re together 24-7, 365. It s been roughly three years since Margie was diagnosed with ALS. Within the last year, she s progressively lost her ability to speak, but not her voice. Being able to preserve my own voice has been the best way of hanging on to something normal in my life, Margie says through a device connected to her wheelchair. The voice that com
stanley quencher es from the device is a synthetic version of her own.In September 2022, Margie did what is known as voice banking. With the help of a speech pathologist, Margie recorded roughly 350 sentences that were then put into software that uses artificial intelligence to create a voice that sounds like her
stanley cup own. As my real voice continues to betray me with the regression of this horrible disease, I have an amazing opportunity to hold conversations in a meaningful way and in my original voice, Margie said.SEE MORE: The Ice Bucket Challenge funded a major ALS gene breakthroughWhen asked a question, Margie writes out an answer on a screen using eye-tracking technology.ALS has impacted her ability to move her
stanley mugs arms, but doctors say the disease often doesn t impact eye movement as much. The first time we heard it, it was amazing that it sounded so much like her, Butch said. You could tell it was a little bit robotic, but it didn t make any difference. Speech pat Kmjd Migrants sue Florida governor over Martha s Vineyard flights
Lawmakers in Arkansas passed legislation to ban gender-affirming treatments for transgender youth earlier this year, becoming the first state to make such a move. Now the ACLU is fighting back. They have filed a lawsuit against state officials representing two physicians, four trans youths and their parents. The Brandt family is among them. It was years of going back and forth, trying to figure out who I was, said Dylan Brandt, a 15-yea
stanley fr r-old trans youth.Self-discovery has been a
kubki stanley journey for Dylan but two years ago everything changed when he handed his mom a letter. And in the letter he signed it your son Dylan, said Joanna Brandt, Dylan s mother.That summer was a new beginning for this transgender teen. Nearly a year later was the start of hormone therapy. Dylan and his mother Joanna say that was the answer to much of his depression and anxiety. Most of that went away. The anxiety about going out to places, going to see people, gone. It changed everything. Im s
stanley hrnek o much happier, Im so much more confident, Dylan said. Its all of the things that give him the space to fully encompass externally how he feels on the inside, Joanna said.Now, nearly ten months later, all of Dylan s progress could come to a halt. Arkansas, his home state, has passed a bill that would ban health care professionals from providing transition-related care to transgender minors.Holly Dickson, the Executive Director of ACLU Arkansas says this ban has already done damage. This is such a sweeping governme
