Meeting others with a stutter
How did your life change when you met other people who also stutter?
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Meeting others with a stutter — 4 Comments
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How did your life change when you met other people who also stutter?
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When I first met others who stutter, my life changed in an instant. Finally, I realized I was not the only one. I had always felt so isolated and weird, and convinced that I was the only one who talked like, because I had never met another person who stutters, and when I did, I was in my early 40’s.
Amazing, huh?
From that moment after just meeting one other person, layers of guilt and shame fell away and I felt so relieved and validated.
Imagine how I felt when I went to my first stuttering conference, and met hundreds of others who stutter. That was life altering.
I hope anyone out there that stutters and thinks they are the only one gets the chance to meet others who stutter. It will change your life.
Pam
Oh my where do I start. 🙂 I thought I was the only one until I was 27. I’ve been hiding, not only my voice, but also my personality, lost myself and almost lost life. And there is was: a broschure from the Swedish stuttering association. Whaaaat? What has noone told me there were others and let me live a life of shame and loneliness? I went to a meeting and met others, from all ages and all walks of life. We didn’t talk about stuttering, we simply… stuttered and had a nice outdoor day together.
Within the year I became a chapter board members, as couldn’t stop talking. So I went to a national meeting and met people my age. We told jokes all night. (Being a PWS you soon learn not to tell jokes as, when you come to the point, people stopped listening or get the point way before that.) And they all listened. And waited. And kept eye contact. And didn’t interrupt. And laughed at the right moment. The year after I was a national board member. The year after the world congress was organized in Sweden. To hear people from all over the world stutter in all different languages was amazing!!! I became a board member on European and international level. And decided to never shut up. So I spoke. From pre-school children to politicians. And have been in every local and national media. I also became involved in children and youth camps for YPWS and became a keynote speaker. I also changed jobs, became a teacher and was even headhunted for another educational job. Simply because my “stamily” believed in me and was there for me in hard times. I have paid it forward and I now see those who were at these camps are now those paying it forward, getting others on that road to success and self-worth.
All because that one tiny broschure, and finding people who GET it and support me. More on this in my paper for this year’s conference.
Stay safe and keep talking
Anita Blom
I first met others who stutter when I did my first 3 week intensive treatment course for my stutter when I was at the age of 20. Following that course I joined a self help group associated with that treatment course. The idea of joining that support group was to meet with others who were also working on maintaining their fluency skills so in that group I never heard much stuttering even though we all struggled with the potential of stuttering to some degree. The first time I ever walked into large room full of people who stutter was when I attended my first National Stuttering Association conference. I felt like I knew everyone. Normally I would have felt highly anxious walking into a room full of strangers but I felt amazingly comfortable as though I knew them and they knew me. To this day all my closest friends are people who stutter and I still meet with many of them both for social reasons and for working on maintaining our stuttering control techniques. My involvement in the stuttering self help group has shaped my life and, I believe, for the better.
I realized that I was not the only one struggling
We are a whole community of thousands of stutterer in France, with our stories, hope, personality. We can share what we live and work together
My way of dealing with my stutter was to overcome it by tackling the toughest challenge. Meeting other people who stutter and participating to self-help group taught me that self-love is key