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From: Leys Geddes, British Stammering Association
Date: 17 Oct 2007
Time: 02:54:54 -0500
Remote Name: 81.129.167.75
Good question, Delilah: you've gone inside the issue! First, I should say that when I have to speak to new audiences, in any situation, business or social, I usually tell them I have a stutter. Also, for example, when I am on the phone, and the person at the other end asks if I am on a cell phone, because the line is breaking up, I tell them No, it's because I have a stutter! So I have in my mind the general principle that it's better to tell people than hide it - and they seem to be glad or relieved about that, as I am too. And that person on the other end of the phone, for example, will often apologise for having been so rude. Being interviewed on radio is the same, but different! For a start, the producer will have probably realised that interviewing a PWS might be dangerous, but will probably be trying to respond positively to my complaint that PWS are hardly ever interviewed. So, once the programme team have decided to go ahead, and the PWS is asked in, and the interview starts, and the interviewer or compere is asking the questions, he or she tends to be very sympathetic, but not unreal, because they will have had to interview other 'strange' people in the past and are simply being professional. What comes out of these interviews is that this PWS appears to be intelligent, but can't always get the words out: so the problem is with his speeech, not his brain. Realising this helps the interviewer, and audience, understand what a frustrating condition stuttering is. And that, really, is one of my main purposes.