Listening to Lisa Alamia, a mother of three, one may think that she's from London, but she's not. She's actually 100 percent Texan, born and raised in Rosenberg, Texas.
A rare neurological condition, her speech with a different accent - British instead of Texan - started six months ago after undergoing a jaw surgery to correct an overbite.
“People who don’t know me, they’re like, 'Hey, where are you from?'" Alamia said.
“I’m from Rosenberg. They’re like, 'Where is that?' I’m like, 'Right here in Rosenberg.' 'Oh, you’re from here? How do you talk like that?' So that’s where the whole story comes up,” she continued.
“They are always asking me how my mom got that accent,” Kylie Alamia said about her mother.
“I thought she was joking with me,” said Kayla Alamia, Lisa Alamia’s oldest daughter. “But then she showed me that the doctor diagnosed her with foreign accent syndrome. Then I was like, 'Oh, Lord.'”
Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) is a rare speech disorder that causes a sudden change to speech so that a native speaker is perceived to speak with a foreign accent.
Often caused by damage to the brain due to a stroke or traumatic brain injury, FAS affects less than 100 people worldwide in the last 100 years, a doctor from Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital said.
“I didn’t know the reaction I was going to get from people,” Alamia said. “So I didn’t know if they’re going to judge me. Are they going to think I’m lying or even understand how I’m speaking?”
Alamia is open than ever, thanks to her family and friends. Though her voice no longer intimidates her children.
One day, she hopes to get her old voice back. Until then, she's learning to savor her British accent.
Watch KHOU's full report below.
Photo: Independent UK
Source: KHOU Fox News
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