Perspectives on what makes clinical rehabilitation research ethical.

Aphasia is a language disorder caused by damage to the language areas and networks in the brain, and conservative estimates indicate there are currently more than 2.5 million people living with aphasia in the United States.[5] Aphasia can affect any of the four language modalities (speaking, understanding, reading, and writing) to varying degrees depending on the type and extent of a person's injury. From a disability rights perspective, people with communication disabilities like aphasia experience issues of communication access. While it is true that people with communication disabilities may be more susceptible to the risk of non- or limited comprehension of complex concepts, both the literature and my own direct experiences as a clinical researcher show that appropriate communication accommodations allow people with varied communication disabilities to communicate effectively and participate meaningfully as research participants. Why communication access is critical to ethical clinical research B Elissa Larkin MS, CCC SLP b Shirley Ryan Ability Lab As a clinician and rehabilitation researcher, I have had many humbling and enlightening experiences during which individuals with communication disabilities have educated me about the inequities they face. [Extracted from the article]