My friend Janet Speight, who has died aged 82, spent her career trying to improve opportunities for children and later used her experiences of aphasia to shape and improve understanding the disorder. Aphasia, which is often caused by a stroke, can affect people’s ability to make themselves understood in speech or writing, to understand others and to read. Janet showed people with aphasia how to live rich, fulfilled lives that impact positively on others.
Janet was born within the sound of the Bow Bells in London, the eldest of five children, and went to school in Manchester. Her parents, Florence (nee Traves) and George Learmonth, were both industrial chemists from Scotland, and took the young family back to Edinburgh during the blitz. Janet met Bob Speight when they worked together at at the George Angus factory in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, which made rubber industrial products, and they married in 1964. They had two children, Russell and Bridget, and lived in the north-east of England.
Janet had begun work as a personnel assistant but soon began to focus on working with children in Newcastle – first in a playgroup in Newbiggin Hall and then co-leading a playgroup in Arthur’s Hill, before joining Newcastle city council’s play service to run a project that provided play experiences on the streets for children in the West End of the city. She came to higher education later in life when she joined Bridget at Northumbria University to study play and social work, graduating in 1995.
Janet had a stroke in 2001, which resulted in aphasia. She became a trustee of the North East Trust for Aphasia (NETA), and its chair in 2009, working as an advocate by speaking at events and sharing her experiences. She had difficulties getting her message across, and she used this when speaking publicly to demonstrate the impact of the disorder. She also had a passion for photography and led groups for people with aphasia, empowering them to live engaged lives.
I first got to know Janet in my role as her speech and language therapist, and then as a fellow trustee of NETA. I have researched aphasia for many years, but Janet taught me so much more.
Janet is survived by Bob, Russell and Bridget, by her sisters Caroline and Sarah and brother David, and by her grandson, Tom.
