JULIE MATTHIAS, from Chatham in Kent, says she lost her “chav” accent in 2011 and has since been diagnosed with the very rare Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS).
The mother of two has been mistaken for a South African, an Italian and a French woman, on one occasion she says she was even racially abused because of it.
She commented “People take the Mick and say I am speaking French-ese- a cross between French and Chinese. Before it happened I was Chatham chav, I had a typical local accent as I was born and bred here and still live here.”
Julie, a 49-year-old hairdresser, says she has completely lost her local Chatham accent and now only ever speaks in foreign accents -around 60 people are affected by FAS worldwide.
Matthias, who runs a hairdressing salon in Gillingham, fell ill in 2011 and, at the time, thought she had had a stroke as, when she tried to speak, she barely recognised her own voice. She was later referred to Kings College Hospital in London where she consulted with various doctors, among them a speech therapist and a neurologist, and was eventually diagnosed with FAS.
The voice change is just one of the many symptoms of the rare condition which can sometimes leave her unable to walk for up to eight days at a time. She commented that she had to take each day one at a time and couldn’t make any plans as she never knew when she would be OK and when the FAS would leave her incapacitated.
Experts are now using her case for research in a new book.
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