What piece of advice would you give to individuals who do not stutter, but want to be an active ally of the stuttering community?
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What piece of advice would you give to individuals who do not stutter, but want to be an active ally of the stuttering community? — 2 Comments
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There’s an argument that you can’t really understand what it’s like to stutter unless you too stutter. Sure, we can all see the physical manifestations of stuttering but what you can’t always see are the tears, pain, frustration, embarrassment one’s dysfluency can cause the young person who stutters.
The stuttering community needs all the help and support it can get particularly since 98% of the global population don’t stutter.
Take this one step further and you might well ask whether a speech therapist (SLP) who has never stuttered and experienced the abject embarrassment of blocking when asking out a girl or being unable to tell someone your name during an interview is the best person to help people who stutter. In point of fact, should we be trying to teach better fluency – as many SLPs tried to teach me – or should we be concentrating on helping people with dysfluent speech address the fears that dysfluency creates within them?
And yes, we should probably do both but is the best coach the one who’s played at the highest level or the one that’s read all the books but only played at school?
I don’t know…
As a first piece of advice, I would tell you to ask the person who stutters how you can be an ally: what their needs are, what challenges they are facing, and how you can support them. There is nothing wrong with asking these questions; on the contrary, you can demonstrate your willingness to be an ally.
Secondly, I would tell you to try to understand that person’s perspective on stuttering: don’t assume that everyone wants to become more fluent or that everyone wants to have a speech therapist. And above all, don’t assume that scientific knowledge is more valuable than the lived experience of a person who stutters.
Thirdly, you can show people who do not stutter the “correct” behaviours to adopt: do not finish sentences, give more time, do not break eye contact during dialogue, etc.
Finally, you can participate in the meetings and initiatives of this wonderful community, such as the ISAD 🙂