Jennifer Wexton, a former member of Congress who stepped down after revealing her progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) diagnosis, was featured on the cover of the April/May issue of Brain & Life magazine, the official publication of the American Academy of Neurology.  

The article highlights her use of a device that “speaks” with an artificial intelligence–generated version of her own voice, created using past recordings of her speeches. 

Last year, while serving out the remainder of her final term in office, Wexton made history by using the device to deliver a speech on the House floor. It was the first time a member of Congress had used such technology for an official purpose. 

Wexton’s PSP symptoms began not long after she first came to Washington in 2019. She mistook her early physical ailments as the normal consequences of adapting to her new role, and then as manifestations of stress related to the COVID pandemic.  

Even more alarming for a politician, Wexton soon noticed problems with her voice, which began to quaver while speaking. “Of course, it freaked me out,” she told Brain & Life. “It was scary, and I felt as though I was losing control of my body.” 

Doctors told her she had Parkinson’s disease in early 2023, but that diagnosis never sat quite right with her. “By this point, I knew well the importance of listening to my body and sought out a second and a third medical opinion,” she said. Her diagnosis was soon changed to PSP. Wexton went public with her PSP diagnosis in September 2023, and announced that she would not seek reelection for a fourth term. 

Wexton’s voice continued to get grow weaker and less clear, preventing others from understanding her words. Today, she relies on an AI-generated replica of her voice for both public speaking and personal conversations with loved ones. This technology, created by ElevenLabs, employs deep learning algorithms—sophisticated machine-learning systems that mimic how the human brain processes information—to duplicate voices using just a few minutes of recorded audio.  

This technology transforms written text into speech, producing remarkably authentic-sounding audio that preserves the original speaker’s natural rhythm, tone, and emotional expression. 

While abbreviated, Wexton’s time on Capitol Hill was productive for the community of those with Parkinson’s and associated movement disorders like PSP.  She threw her weight behind groundbreaking federal legislation focused on such disorders and was able to push it across the finish line.  

“I used my terminal condition as leverage, essentially telling colleagues that this was my most important cause given my situation,” she told Brain & Life. 

In July 2024, Wexton stood alongside President Joe Biden in the Oval Office as he enacted the Dr. Emmanuel Bilirakis and Honorable Jennifer Wexton National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act. 

Interested in learning more about PSP? Visit the PSP section of AFTD’s website for more information. 

If you have questions or concerns about PSP, the AFTD HelpLine might have the answers you want. Contact the HelpLine at 1-866-507-7222 or info@theaftd.org.