Democracy Dies in Darkness

Congresswoman battling brain disorder delivers House speech using a text-to-voice app

Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), whose ability to speak, hear and move has been affected by a degenerative brain condition, uses assistive technology to help her navigate life on the Hill.

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May 6, 2024 at 9:00 p.m. EDT
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), whose speech has been affected by a degenerative brain condition, used the technology while introducing legislation on May 6. (Video: C-Span)
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Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) stepped to the microphone on the House floor Monday to speak about one of her latest pieces of legislation, as she has done many times before during her five years in Congress.

But the voice that gave the speech wasn’t hers — it was from a text-to-voice application, an assistive device she uses to help her navigate a degenerative brain condition with which she was diagnosed last year.

Wexton’s disorder — progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) — has largely affected her ability to speak, hear and move. With the help of the assistive app, the congresswoman on Monday spoke about legislation she introduced to rename a post office in Purcellville, Va., after former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who lived in nearby Hillsboro, Va.

“PSP makes it very difficult for me to speak, and I use an assistive app so that you and our colleagues can understand me,” Wexton said in her remarks. “I am proud to be here today speaking in support of my bill to rename the Purcellville, Virginia, post office in honor of my former constituent.”

Wexton, 55, explained that Albright was a fixture at the Purcellville post office, which she visited often while living on her farm in rural western Loudoun County. The lawmaker said she wanted to ensure that Albright’s legacy “continues to live on in Virginia for generations to come.”

The Virginia Democrat, who first won election to the House in 2018, received the PSP diagnosis last summer after an initial misdiagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. PSP, a rare neurological condition, typically progresses rapidly and has no cure.

Wexton announced in September that she would not run for reelection for her seat in Virginia’s 10th District. Next month, a crowded field will battle for each party’s nomination for the general election, hoping to succeed Wexton in the seat she turned blue in 2018 with a win over Republican Barbara Comstock. Early voting is underway.

Wexton isn’t the first lawmaker to recently employ assistive technology in Congress. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) relies on real-time talk-to-text technology to help him with auditory processing issues after suffering a near-fatal stroke in 2022.

In her remarks Monday, Wexton only briefly touched on the topic of her condition, focusing her remarks instead on her effort to name the Purcellville post office after a woman who she said helped shape the political careers of many more.

Albright, Wexton said, “was a fearless trailblazer for women and a devoted public servant who touched the lives of so many whom she taught, mentored and worked with — including me.”