ABOUT THE 2021 NSDA VIRTUAL SYMPOSIUM

The 2021 NSDA Virtual Symposium took place on Saturday, May 1, 2021, with a combination of live panel discussions and pre-recorded presentations. Each panel brought its own unique perspective on living with a voice disorder. We are so grateful to all of our presenters for generously sharing their experience, knowledge and time. Especially exciting is all the research on possible new treatment options! The recordings of the live sessions can be found on the NSDA YouTube page

Book Premiere: Speechless No More: A Life Transformed by a Voice Disorder by Dot Sowerby​

As part of the 2021 NSDA Virtual Symposium, a new book will be premiered: Speechless No More: A Life Transformed by Voice Disorder. In this memoir by Dot Sowerby, she shares her struggles with a debilitating voice disorder that rendered her speech tremulous and broken. It is a lesson in courage and persistence during a time when the medical profession was just beginning to understand the neurological basis of spasmodic dysphonia. Dot’s story, like so many, is about maneuvering an obstacle course of faulty diagnoses and self-doubt before she came to understand the source of her condition. Both distressing and inspiring, her quest to find answers to the cause of her voice condition and find a treatment for it is told with honesty and spirit. This new edition of Speechless covers the next twenty years of Dot’s life and twenty more years of progress in the treatment of spasmodic dysphonia, thanks in part to the passion and energy of all our friends and colleagues who work tirelessly to support the work of NSDA. ORDER THE BOOK HERE

2021 NSDA Virtual Symposium Live Panel Discussions

These panels took place on May 1, 2021. Click on the box for the recording on the NSDA YouTube Page.

Dr. Amy Heard, Dennis Kaszeta, LMSW, and Rev. Dr. Rebecca Cole-Turner DOWNLOAD  HANDOUT

Dr. Julie Barkmeier-Kraemer, Dr. Joel Blumin, Michelle R. E. Donovan, Erik Laurence, Bruce Menk, and Dr. Bonnie Smith

Dr. Russ Banks, Dr. Divya Bhaskaran. Risa Clay, Dr. Christopher Honey and Dr. Michael Pitman

Charlie Reavis, Susan Beck, Marcia Sterling and Dot Sowerby