This exchange took place between 10-year-old Ruth and myself. After a precarious start, it appears to have come to a dead-end. But with a bit of encouragement, Ruth starts again, slowly, weighing her words:

We've arrived.

Our struggle over words speaks volumes. Ruth has initiated the conversation. She is quite definite about what she wants to communicate. Behind her eventually clear assertion that her family understand her lies her implicit recognition that other people don't. I prove her point with my persistent failure to understand that key word ‘understand’. Ruth is ready to give up. It is just too hard to get her understanding understood.

Damian is 21, and describes himself as ‘dysphasic’. He, too, can have difficulty getting his message across. He explains how he deals with this situation: