Elias Nyamekye Apreko (executive director, Ghana Stammering Association)
I am a person who stammers (PWS). I have an eight-year experience in stammering awareness and disability rights advocacy. I helped set up the Ghana Stammering Association (GSA) in 2013 to meet the needs of PWS in Ghana. As the leader of the GSA, I have collaborated with the few speech and language therapists (SLTs) in Ghana and organized many events (seminars, conferences, workshops etc.) to raise public awareness about stammering and provide practical guidelines to living with a stammer. I have led several media awareness campaigns on mainstream media (TV & Radio), social and print media. We have been able to bring in high profile personalities, such as ministers of government, journalists, and lawyers to assist in the awareness raising campaigns. As a direct result of our efforts, stigma surrounding stammering is gradually reducing in Ghana. I also serve on the National Executive Council and Advocacy Committee of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations (GFD); an umbrella organization for Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs). My core responsibilities are to help devise the strategic direction of the GFD to help promote the rights of persons with disabilities in Ghana. I am a business development professional in the financial industry; my experience spans across business development, sales & marketing, customer relationship management and investment banking.

Jia Bin was born and raised in China. She has been a language teacher (English & Mandarin Chinese) who has taught in China, the UK and the USA. Jia’s passion for helping others to communicate over the last 10 years has led her to become open about her own experiences of stuttering in various cultures. Jia is an active member of the NSA and has served as a regional chapter coordinator. She was featured on StutterTalk podcast on several occasions. Jia is a current host of StutterSocial(a google meet for PWS around the world).Jia is also a co-founder of a Chinese podcast and hosts online support sessions for the Chinese stuttering community. Jia is currently a 2nd year graduate student in Communicative Sciences and Disorders at Michigan State University.

Anita S. Blom, born and raised in the Netherlands, is living in Sweden. She worked as an operation manager for the Workers’ Educational Association. She has been a board member, incl chairperson, of stuttering organisations on local, national, European and International level, and an advisory board member of several international stuttering organisations.  She was a national and international keynote speaker on stuttering, had her own stuttering consultant company, was one of the Stutter Social hosts, and was a project leader of several stuttering projects. She was also a leader of national and international children and youth camps for over 20 years. 

Anita, aka Scatsis, has stuttered since she was 9 and had a troublesome youth because of her stuttering. She went from being silent, to giving stuttering a voice, from pre-school children to the European Parliament, now inspiring people who stutter of all ages, they can make a difference. Do check out her previous papers to the ISAD online conferences.

Due to health issues she now has to take it slow, but is still an inspiration to many, acknowledged by Voice Unearthed on the Wall Of Inspiration, and many others. Her device, that’s now been used all over the world is “Sure I stutter. What are you good at?”

Paul Goldstein has studied in quite a few fields, including music composition, mathematics, and speech-language pathology. He spent his first 46 years in the United States, during which he worked as nightclub and concert pianist, concert director, music instructor, computer programmer, and speech-language clinician. Twenty-one years ago he moved to Norway to marry. He now works in social services as a foster “weekend father”, and as a pianist-composer. Paul has stuttered since his first sentences at age 3. His journey has taken him through decades of speech therapies, including various fluency shaping programs. Through intensive practice, he enjoyed many extended periods of fluency. However, he now simply accepts himself peacefully as a person who happens to stutter. Active for decades in national and international stuttering organizations, Paul has attended numerous stuttering conferences, and has published a number of stuttering-related articles. He is also an administrator in Facebook’s largest stuttering forum.

Pamela Mertz is a person who stutters and is actively involved in the global stuttering community. She is a past Board member of the International Stuttering Association, and present Board member of the USA National Stuttering Association. She blogs at www.stutterrockstar.com and hosts the popular podcast “Women Who Stutter: Our Stories.” She was a host for Stutter Social for close to six years and is a country leader for the employment advocacy group, 50 Million Voices.

Derek Mitchell is the leader of the NSA Atlanta Adult Chapter and has been actively involved in the stuttering community since 2013. Derek is a graduate of Georgia State University with an MBA in International Business. For the past eight years he’s been working as an IT project management professional in the technology and education fields. Outside of the NSA and work, Derek has a passion for food, travel, exploring nature, action movies, public speaking and the occasional hang glide.

Satu Nygren is a person who stutters with several years of experience of volunteering in stuttering associations in Finland and Iceland. Currently, she studies psychology in the Netherlands. She has been involved in international stuttering conferences and projects, especially concentrating on young people who stutter, ages between 18-30. Her latest projects in the stuttering field are the 13th ISA World Congress in Iceland, Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges for young people who stutter, and creating Erasmus+ funded support manuals about stuttering for youth workers and young people who stutter.

I am Shilpa Sagwal from India and I am 30 years old. I am an engineer by education and a person who stammers. I am one of the national coordinators for The Indian Stammering Association (TISA) and a core team member for IWWS (Indian Women who Stammer) group. I like to go for long walks and also practice Yoga and meditation. I got in touch with TISA in 2013 and my life has changed since. We believe in the idea of self-help and acceptance. It has helped me in looking at things beyond my-self and I have taken my stammer in a positive spirit since. I have made wonderful connections along the way and many beautiful memories in my stammering journey till now. I aspire to work in the field of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for organizations to help them in transforming the world of work for people with disabilities and improve their work culture which ultimately helps the organizations grow. On these lines, I am working with 50 million voices as one of the leaders from India to help people who stammer (PWS) by raising awareness among employers regarding stammering/stuttering and strengthening employee-employer relationship.