The syndrome, which normally affects stroke victims, results in the brain having difficulties processing language.

Sufferers' speech is generally halting and deliberate. They know what they want to say. It is just they simply cannot say it.

Not surprisingly, this can lead to feelings of intense frustration.

Bexley's Queen Mary's Hospital has a gleaming new aphasia unit where victims can work through their problems in the company of others.

Patients at the hospital have created a display to raise public awareness of their disorder and are keen to talk about the misunderstandings they have to cope with everyday.

"We want people to know we are not idiots" said Peter Rollette, 67, from Onslow Drive, Sidcup.

"We know what we want to say but we are treated as if we have no brains." chimes in 67-year-old Doris Wall, from Brookdale Road, Bexley, "it is so frustrating to have people answering questions for me."

Group therapist Beryl Howes said aphasia strikes when the left hand side of the brain is damaged.

It is this section which controls all communication, making speaking, reading and writing very difficult.

But sufferers are still intelligent, competent adults who know what they want and can make their own decisions.

At the daily workshop, patients talk through their problems and share experiences.

Fifty-one-year-old Carol Dixon from Oakehampton Crescent, Welling told the group about her stroke last September.

She said: "My concentration goes and I find I start doing something then just lose interest.

"But here we all understand what each of us is going through and can encourage one another."

Everyone in the unit is keen to stress that aphasia can hit anybody.

The Queen Mary's group includes people from all walks of life and of all ages.

One man, who used to work as an architect, is still in the early stages of recovery.

He can say very little, but behind his eyes you can tell he is intelligent and understands you well.

His group is using children's cards, which have emotions such as "happy" and "sad" printed on them, to express how they feel.

Not surprisingly, the two cards that reached for most often read "angry" and "frustrated".

To learn more about aphasia, visit the unit's display all this week at the Queen Mary's Hospital main reception.