Research Mission
The CIRC Aphasia Lab's mission is to:
- Improve the effectiveness and generalizability of aphasia treatments
- Quantify existing gaps in representation
- Advocate for equitable racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural representation in research
- Explore ableism in the context of aphasia
Vision
Greater aphasia awareness in society
Reduced/absent disability stigma
Highly effective and disability-affirming aphasia treatments
Equitable recovery outcomes across races and ethnicities
Understanding Our Name
Creative
Aphasia assessment, treatment, care, and research is partially an art—an art that that we believe requires creativity and thinking outside the box.
Inclusive
Inclusivity is a prerequisite for all truly transformative work. Clinical research must include people from different races, ethnicities, linguistic backgrounds, and cultural backgrounds if it aims to be impactful, ecologically-valid, generalizable, and identity affirming.
'CIRC'
‘CIRC’ is a nod to ‘circumlocution,’ which is something people do when they can’t think of or say a word. The CIRC Aphasia Lab loves circumlocution!
CIRCAL or Circle?
The fact that our ‘CIRCAL’ isn’t spelled correctly aligns with the lab’s culture of rejecting perfectionism and embracing errors. Fun fact: The word ‘gyrus’ (a raised ridge on the brain's surface) comes from a Greek word meaning circle!