‘I Will Always Be Me’ is a first-of-its-kind book for people living with motor neurone disease (MND) that banks their voices as they read aloud. Inspired by the insight that only 12% of people living with MND actually bank their voices, the brands behind ‘I Will Always Be Me’ wanted to find an accessible way to help people preserve their voices for their families.

Motor neurone disease is a rare condition affecting the brain and nerves. Symptoms can include muscle weakness, twitches and slurred speech, and many with the illness lose their ability to communicate over time, relying on assistive technology as a result. However, these communications aids often rely on people with MND banking their voices in advance of their condition deteriorating.

Banking your voice is time consuming, demanding people with MND to say up to 1,600 random phrases, which not only takes hours but can be very emotionally taxing too. By contrast, ‘I Will Always Be Me’ takes just half an hour to read and record. Once completed, the recording can be uploaded and transformed into a digital voice by voice banking technology SpeakUnique to then be used with communication devices as needed.