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I’m one of the few people in the world who have foreign accent syndrome it took me years to come to terms with that

Editors Note: For the sake of medical privacy we have decided to allow this guest column except we redacted the patient’s name for their own safety and security. Bazaar Daily was able to verify that the woman in fact suffers from Foreign Accent Syndrome but nobody can tell her why it never went away. We found this story to be quite fascinating so we decided to share it for others to see with the patient’s consent.


My name is ‘Jane Doe’ and I am a middle-aged woman believed to be just a few of 100 or so people on record who have Foreign Accent Syndrome. Foreign Accent Syndrome in a nutshell is a condition that results in someone suddenly speaking or appearing to speak in a different accent other than their own. It began happening to me sometime around 2010 I believe but it did not actually get progressively stronger until about a year or two after I was first exhibiting signs of the mysterious condition. My doctors believe it was the result of a car crash that I was involved in the year prior. Doctors initially told me nothing was wrong but after about 5 months or so it had become obvious that I was no longer speaking with my own accent. Since getting discharged from the hospital the year prior I’ve had numerous people (I’m an American and I live in the midwest) tell me that it sounds as if I am speaking with an English accent.

Like many other patients who also suffer from the condition I was confused for a very long time. I hated speaking; I texted others instead of speaking directly to them, I purposely went out of my way to prevent others from suddenly hearing that it appeared I was an English woman rather than a Midwesterner.

It took 11 different doctors over the course of about a year and a half to formally nail down exactly what happened; why, and quite likely what they believe was the cause. I was rear-ended in a car crash at the time that resulted in my head slamming against the steering wheel of my then car. I was knocked unconscious (this is what doctors had to tell me later on) for roughly 5 days. When I woke up in the infirmary I remember talking to myself in the mirror as I had woken up; came to, and began to understand what had happened. When I attempted to track down a nurse that was actually when I had myself discovered that I sounded very different from anything I had ever known. It wasn’t strong at first fairly subtle if I had stopped thinking about it and freely started to speak out came an English accent. I have to think and process quite hard to sound like I should as an American being from the midwest.

They then told me that the cause of the condition appeared to be a traumatic brain injury that hadn’t been properly documented. Many of the first doctors I had visited had claimed that I was “acting” or as if “this is charades” or something. It wasn’t until the 7th or so doctor that the doctor formally asked me how long this had been going on and had attempted to give me a moment in an effort to see if we could get the correct accent to come out. After several attempts; recorded audio sessions, all types of brain scans, my doctor determined that I needed to be further examined. I would spend the next several months in and out of various appointments until I was finally told that a cause had been found but no cure was available.

12 years later my native accent never came back. My doctors tell me that is because my brain appears to have never fully recovered from the TBI. My memory often isn’t that well unless it is written down; I still sound like someone from Top Boy, and it still stresses me out.

I get questions allot about what or how it feels to have a condition that makes it appear as if one of the most defining characteristics as a human being suddenly is different than what one may remember. It isn’t easy. Most of the time I am still mute out of insecurity about what others think. Some still argue that I am or must be the greatest Z-List actress there ever was while others have stopped me in the aisle at the grocery store or may hear me talk and I have to then spend 20 minutes arguing how I am from America but sound nothing like my peers.

It is devastating at times. On one hand of the scale it makes one feel vulnerable and like an outcast. On the other it sometimes can be an interesting conversation starter.

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