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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNumbers are all around us. In the morning, we wake up to an alarm that tells us it\u2019s time to get out of bed. When deciding what to wear, we often check the temperature outside. We count out the vitamins or prescription pills we need to take while eating our breakfast, we estimate how long it will take to get to the station and then check what platform we need to be on to catch the train to work.<\/p>\n
Every single one of these examples involves using and understanding numbers. Being able to carry out such small calculations and estimations makes our lives possible.<\/p>\n
This is why acalculia, a neurological condition that impairs the ability to process and understand numbers, can have a devastating effect on a person\u2019s life. The condition commonly afflicts people who have had a stroke or suffered a brain injury. It\u2019s estimated that it affects between 30%-60% of stroke survivors.<\/p>\n
The brain is a complex organ that controls both our movements and senses. It enables us to receive signals from the environment, process information and execute motor actions.<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>The condition commonly afflicts people who have had a stroke or suffered a brain injury (Getty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nBut a stroke or brain injury interrupts the blood supply to the brain. If this stroke or injury happens on the left side of the brain, it can cause problems with language processing and other cognitive functions, such as memory. It can also affect movement on the right side of the body.<\/p>\n
If it happens on the right side of the brain, movement on the left side of the body will be affected. There may also be cognitive deficits \u2013 typically those involved with processing visual information.<\/p>\n
But acalculia can occur regardless of which area of the brain has been damaged. This is because processing numbers and performing calculations are done using many different areas of the brain.<\/p>\n\nAbout the author<\/h2>\nYael Benn is a Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University.<\/p>\n
This article was first published by The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
This includes the left hemisphere, which helps us process language; the right hemisphere, which is involved in visuo-spatial processing; the posterior part of the brain, which is involved in comprehending magnitude (which of two numbers is smaller or bigger); and the front of the brain, which controls executive function.<\/p>\n
Lesions or damage to any of these areas can cause problems in how a person processes numbers.<\/p>\n
For people with acalculia, sometimes the processing problem can just be surface-level. They may feel that they know a number but can\u2019t say it out loud. Or, a person may mean to say or write one number and instead another comes out.<\/p>\n
In severe cases, a patient can altogether lose the meaning of numbers. So they may know a number has been mentioned or is written down, but they just can\u2019t figure out what it actually means or how to make sense of it.<\/p>\n
Effect on daily life<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n To understand the impacts of acalculia, my colleagues and I interviewed people with the condition alongside some of their carers to learn how it affected their lives and what support they received.<\/p>\n
Stroke and brain injury survivors with acalculia reported being unable to manage their money. Some interviewees spoke of needing to depend on their carer to handle their money or having trouble accessing their internet banking because they struggled with common login questions such as \u201center the third character of your pin\u201d.<\/p>\n
Worryingly, many participants reported difficulties managing their medications, with several totally relying on their pharmacist.<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Acalculia can even make routine tasks \u2013 such as taking prescription medication \u2013 a challenge (PA)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nSimply managing their everyday lives was also made more difficult by the condition. Telling the time was difficult because of the digits. Even using the microwave was difficult because cooking times \u201care a jumble with numbers,\u201d as one participant put it.<\/p>\n
Importantly, acalculia had a detrimental effect on independence and wellbeing. As one participant said: \u201cI feel dumb, embarrassed and frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall, our findings highlighted just how substantial an effect acalculia had on stroke and brain injury survivors\u2019 independence and quality of life. Acalculia left some unable to return to work, and many unable to live independently or manage their everyday lives, leaving them vulnerable. Our research also pointed out important gaps in how the condition is currently assessed and treated.<\/p>\n
Acalculia awareness<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n One in four adults over the age of 25 is at risk of experiencing a stroke in their lifetime. Although we\u2019re getting better equipped to help people recover from a stroke, acalculia remains overlooked in stroke rehabilitation guidelines. It\u2019s not routinely tested for after a stroke (despite several dedicated assessments available), and there are currently no clinically tested treatments for the condition.<\/p>\n
The condition doesn\u2019t appear to be taught in clinical training at present. One patient we interviewed in our study recalled asking their therapists for help with acalculia, saying: \u201cWhat can you do to help me with my maths? Every therapist I\u2019ve met says \u2018I can\u2019t help you\u2019. Why? Because it\u2019s not part of their training.\u201d<\/p>\n
This means healthcare workers aren\u2019t able to recognise the problem \u2013 let alone be able to support patients who have it.<\/p>\n
People with acalculia are currently left to support themselves. Many may not even know there\u2019s a name for their condition. It\u2019s clear more needs to be done to raise awareness so that it can be better assessed \u2013 and so patients can receive the help and support they need in overcoming acalculia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Numbers are all around us. In the morning, we wake up to an alarm that tells us it\u2019s time to get out of bed. When deciding what to wear, we often check the temperature outside. We count out the vitamins or prescription pills we need to take while eating our breakfast, we estimate how long it will take to get to the station and then check what platform we need to be on to catch the train to work. Every single one of these examples involves using and understanding numbers. Being able to carry out such small calculations and estimations makes our lives possible. This is why acalculia, a neurological condition that impairs the ability to process and understand numbers, can have a devastating effect on a person\u2019s life. The condition commonly afflicts people who have had a stroke or suffered a brain injury. It\u2019s estimated that it affects between 30%-60% of stroke survivors. The brain is a complex organ that controls both our movements and senses. It enables us to receive signals from the environment, process information an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}