About the Author: My name is Abolfazl Emamgholitabar, a 23-year-old fourth-year medical student from my beloved country, Iran, studying at Babol University of Medical Sciences. Over the past few years, I have had various experiences with stuttering in different areas of my life. Inspired by my personal experience with stuttering, I have become passionate about studying and working in this field, and my goal is to raise public awareness about the issue. By participating in this conference, I hope to learn more and make a greater impact on society by promoting understanding and awareness of stuttering.

Hello to you, from someone who often avoids saying hello to avoid stuttering. My name is Abolfazl Emamgholitabar, and I’m a 23-year-old medical student from Iran. As you can imagine, given my field of study, much of my early life was spent dealing with the stress of exams and schoolwork. Today, I want to share the story of my life with a stutter, a journey filled with both good and bad emotions, and the lessons I’ve learned along the way.

I don’t remember exactly when my stutter began, but when I was four or five, I had several nightmares about snakes and woke up in terror. Perhaps those fears were the starting point of this bittersweet period in my life, which has brought me so many good and bad experiences.

I remember my mother buying me many books when I was a child. It was then that the seed of reading was planted in the garden of my life. I learned to read two years before I started school. Reading was a new skill I had acquired, but along with it, I discovered a new problem: stuttering when reading aloud. I entered first grade as the only student who could read, and I would read all the lessons with excitement and enthusiasm, but with a stutter. Back then, my mother, who was a teacher, would take me to speech therapy after her tiring work day. But I was just a kid; I didn’t cooperate, and I didn’t do my exercises. Eventually, I gave up on therapy. I got used to my stutter until the other kids in my class gradually learned to read. Then, the teacher stopped asking me to read aloud. I was a bit sad about it, so I brought it up with my speech therapist. She wrote a letter to my teacher, asking her to let me continue reading in class as before.

My mother would send me to various classes, and despite my talent and great interest, I would sometimes avoid participating in class activities because I was afraid of stuttering. However, I never completely backed down. I always tried to stay in the middle of the battle against my stutter. I saw my stutter as an opponent to my abilities and talents, and if I gave up on my interests, it would feel like my stutter had won. I always tried not to be a loser in that battle.

The reactions of the people around me were a fascinating story in themselves. From the occasional teasing of young children to the pity and sympathy of adults, and even strange suggestions like eating pigeon eggs or putting leeches on my tongue. What mattered most to me was my parents’ sadness about my stutter. They tried so hard and would get upset about it at parties. Sometimes, in private, they would tell me to “speak well” or “speak slowly.” It was heartbreaking to me that my parents, out of their lack of knowledge and sadness, were sometimes asking me to do something that wasn’t in my power and couldn’t be achieved in a short time. Of course, they had a right to feel that way, since I was also neglectful in practicing and using the therapy techniques. Because of these societal views, I always try to raise awareness about stuttering and how to react to people who stutter.

I used to be very embarrassed when I had to read an essay in school. I was afraid the other kids would make fun of me, but everyone liked me, and no one ever did. It was then that I realized that our fears can be very different from reality. I was ashamed of my stutter, but I never gave up. I always tried to read and participate. That’s when I started going to speech therapy again and met Dr. Dehghan, one of the lecturers at Babol University of Medical Sciences and a famous speech therapist in our province. My stutter got much better. He was inspiring and kind, and I tried to learn professionalism, discipline, and seriousness in my work from him. He always encouraged me to go into medicine. Dr. Dehghan helped me understand speech therapy better and introduced me to the field. Because of him, my cousin is now a speech therapist in our city and loves her profession. I learned that being passionate about any job is the key to success.

Now, as I’m studying medicine and still have a stutter, I’ll be starting my hospital rotations in the next two or three months. I’m a little afraid of how to take a medical history from a very sick patient. My field also has many exams, and the stress from them can severely affect my stutter. To face my fear of taking a medical history, a month ago, I went to the psychiatry ward and took a history from a patient. It was a very interesting experience, and I only stuttered once. However, sometimes dealing with an emergency patient requires quick action and a little stress when communicating, and I need to be able to control my stutter more. Maybe I’m afraid the patient will get angry or make fun of me, but my love for medicine and the desire to help the patient at that moment makes this fear bearable.

You might think that a stutter is a terrible thing, but I’ve recently made friends with it because it has taught me so many good things. That’s why I love it. I realized that stuttering is the unique accent of my heart and perhaps the oldest friend I’ve had since early in my life—even older than my friends from elementary school. My stutter has been a life-changing and inspiring guide on my life’s journey.

One day, when I was very upset about my stutter and felt like the most miserable person on Earth, I went to Dr. Dehghan’s clinic. There, I saw people who couldn’t even say a single word. That was a wake-up call for me. I realized that my problem was insignificant compared to many others. It gave me hope and taught me to always look at the half-full glass.

Patience is one of the greatest gifts my stutter has given me. Because I stutter, I often can’t speak my mind quickly, which helps me be more careful with my words and speak more thoughtfully. This is something that is widely discussed in our classical literature—to think and be patient before speaking.

Many times throughout my life, I prayed to be cured, but I saw that it had no effect. I realized the reason was my own lack of effort. It became clear to me that I spoke well whenever I practiced, and I learned to try harder myself instead of just praying.

My dear stutter has given me another gift: the ability to focus on and improve other aspects of my work. If I have a presentation in class, I’ve learned to strengthen other areas like content, body language, and the psychology of my speech so that the flaw of stuttering is less noticeable. I’ve accepted that we all have flaws that we don’t need to be ashamed of. We can make these flaws less prominent by strengthening other parts of our personality. Of course, we must also try to solve our problems. I learned that every human has flaws, and my stutter is a part of who I am. Perhaps I needed a stutter in my life to remind me that no one is perfect and that I should live in society with more humility and less pride.

This good friend has taught me so many lessons that school could not have. My stutter is my teacher, and I will be forever indebted to this teacher. If it weren’t for this good teacher, I wouldn’t be participating in this conference and wouldn’t be having such an interesting experience. I love this part of me, but I’m trying to make it less prominent. Still, I know I’ll miss it.

In life, I have learned to love my imperfections. It is our problems and weaknesses that always give us the motivation to strive to be better and give us the drive to live. I hope you are always on the path to fixing your flaws and becoming stronger than you were yesterday.

By the way, my fear of snakes has also gradually faded away, and I’ve even grown fond of them. I’ve been learning about them and trying to become friends with these beautiful animals, just as I became friends with my stutter. It’s a story that began with fear and is now continuing with beauty.

To be honest, I’m tired of talking so much without stuttering. Thank you for your att-t-t-tention.

G-g-goodbye.

The End