Drawn and Heard – Daniele Rossi, Jean-Sébastien Bérubé

Daniele RossiAbout the Author:

Daniele Rossi is a cartoonist living in Toronto, Canada. Stuttering and drawing comics since he was four years old, Daniele grew up to eventually produce the Stuttering is Cool podcast and book of the same name with the latter featuring comics starring Franky Banky, a cartoon fox who stutters. An active participant in the global stuttering community, Daniele co-founded Stutter Social, an online community facilitating group video chats for people who stutter; is an advisory member to the board of the Canadian Stuttering Association; and draws Franky Banky comics for the Association Bègaiement communication quarterly newsletter. Since his first name can be difficult even for English-language non-stutterers to say, you can call him Danny.

Jean-Sébastien BérubéJean-Sébastien Bérubé, born in Rimouski, Quebec, Canada in 1978, is a comic book artist, an illustrator and a poet (spoken word and slam poetry) living in Montreal, Canada. He has a bachelor’s degree in art, graphic design and comic art from the University of Quebec in Gatineau. He has been drawing his own comic books which have been published in French-speaking countries around the world since 2009. His graphic novels Radisson, How I Didn’t Become a Monk and Towards The Storm have won many prizes and talk about Canada’ history, Tibet, Buddhism, Kyokushin Karate, family drama and life as a person who stutters.

Writing a book about your stuttering experiences is a great way to step out of your speaking comfort zone, leading you to living your life of saying what you want to say, being seen and being heard, without fear of judgement or stigma. It also leads to more stuttering awareness. At least that’s what I and my friend and fellow cartoonist, Jean-Sébastien Bérubé, experienced.

I interviewed Jean-Sébastien on my podcast earlier this year. I wanted to ask how he went from being ashamed about his stuttering to drawing books shining a spotlight on his speech and then facing his fears of overt stuttering in media interviews. The result created a very powerful transformation and a boost of confidence. A topic I talk about a lot on my podcast. 

An excerpt from our chat is embedded in a Youtube video on this page. Listen to the full version of our conversation on my Stuttering is Cool podcast website.

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Comments

Drawn and Heard – Daniele Rossi, Jean-Sébastien Bérubé — 16 Comments

  1. “We always loved you the way you are” — this is such a powerful remark from people when you shared with them about your stutter. It is a really good reflection to take to heart that people’s view of who we are as a person is about so many other things about ourselves and formulates their views of us and stuttering is one aspect of those millions of other things.

    Where do you feel like you are now on your journey? Do you feel that you love your stutter or are proud of your stutter or wouldn’t say that is the case?

    • This speaks to me so much too as it wasn’t until I actually started to focus on developing who I was as a person did I start to realize how much there is to love about myself as well so thanks for sharing this!

    • Hi and sorry for the delay, I’m too busy these days. So, to answer your question, I don’t love my stutter nor am I proud of it. I just aknowledge it. In the past, I used to view my stutter as something bad and I tried to hide it, but today, I view it as a neurological condition that is neither good nor bad. For me, knowledge is power. And learning what stuttering is from a scientific and social point of view helped me a lot to understand and accept it. I don’t hope to love it or to be proud of it, but to accept it as a part of who I am and to love myself as a whole, one day… Thank you very much for the comment!

  2. Hello Daniele & Jean-Sébastien,

    Thank you for sharing your story with us! I believe I came across your podcast when I searched for stuttering podcasts and made a mental note to check it out. Your passion about comics and using they way you are using it to create stories about stuttering is great. I’m sure children that come across it would really be inspired!

    Thanks,
    Tamara

  3. Hello, Daniele, you just continue to be so inspirational i haven’t looked at your podcast yet I will but just wanted to say hello again. Phyllis

    • Always great to hear from you, Phyllis! And I see you have also submitted a paper again this year. I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet but it’s on my target list 🙂

  4. Hello,
    i really enjoyed reading and watching your story
    As a future SLP, can you give me advice on how i can encourage my clients on not being insecure about their stutter? i know there are many people see their stutter as something that limits their ability, and dictates what they can and cannot do.

  5. I’m glad you enjoyed our article and video. Taking small steps out of my speaking comfort zone to build up desensitization and letting the people I’m talking to know that I stutter worked for me. I experienced only positive reactions which, in turn, increased my desensitization and confidence. There are no steps too small. From telling a friend you stutter to asking someone the time to calling up a store to ask for operating hours all work. What is interesting is soon, you’ll be eager to try bigger steps like public speaking.

  6. Thank you both for your interview. Drawings often make it easier to understand than just words, as also the drawing tells a story of its own. I wish more books would have visuals, and not just the bought photo’s, but something that’s been created, with a message. And yes, the more we understand, the more we can move on. We don’t have to like our stutter, as long as we realize it’s not who we are. It just is.

    Keep drawing

    Anita

  7. Jean-Sébastien Bérubé and Daniele Rossi, thank you so much for a very enlightening interview exerpt describing the arduous journey of being more comfortable with the very uncomfortable aspects of stuttering in front of friends, family, and strangers. Jean-Sébastien, with your knowledgable approach of educating people about stuttering and how to empower individuals who stutter through your talks and comic book art, what advice would you give to a speech-language pathology student to help their clients more effectively accept their stutter and be more supportive and instill confidence in themselves?

    • Hello! Well, that’s a tough question. The problem I had all my life with stuttering is that everybody always told me lies about my stuttering. Buddhist monks told me I was possessed by an evil spirit, psychologists told me I stutter because of unresolved family issues and anger, classmates told me I must have used drugs, girls said I didn’t have self-confidence, and so on. Nobody ever told me what stuttering really was, well until two years ago when I discovered the stuttering community and did a lot of research. Learning what stuttering really is was such an empowering experience for me. Since then, everytime I hear lies about stuttering, I don’t hesitate to tell the truth, even if it makes other people uncomfortable. Because what I deeply understood is that stuttering is a neurological condition. It is not an evil spirit, nor anger nor nothing else. And it is not my fault. So, why would I be ashamed of it? I have a friend who lost his arm in an accident. So, now he has only one arm. Should he be ashamed of it? Of course not. It is not us, people who stutter, who should be ashamed. People who should be ashamed are the ones who spread lies, make fun of people who stutter, stigmatise or discriminate them. So, for me, understanding all these issues, which I call the truth, helped me to accept my stutter and to stop being ashamed of it.

  8. Hello Daniele & Jean-Sébastien,
    i really enjoyed reading and watching your story and what you guys are doing is very inspiring! Do you have any tips on how to overcome fears of public speaking?

    • Hi! When I was studying comic art in university, I had to choose two courses that were not related to art, so I chose a public speaking course. On the first day, the teacher asked each one of us why we chose his class. When my turn came, I said I took this class because I stutter. The teacher and the class were impressed by that, saying I had a lot of courage for showing up there. There were students who were there because they were studying law or other fields like that where they need to talk and they were afraid to do it, even if they don’t stutter. So, taking a class like that, or taking an acting class, or doing something similar, like right now, I’ve been doing slam poetry for the last 12 years, helps a lot. You just have to show up there and say the reason you’re here is because you stutter.