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From: Harry Dhillon
Date: 21 Oct 2010
Time: 08:40:57 -0500
Remote Name: 163.166.8.11
Hiya Kathryn. Thank you so much for your response. It's been such a pleasure writing for the ISAD conference - I was nervous at first, (and especially with the emotional content of my article), was not sure if I had done the right thing, but the feedback I have received from the readers has been very touching. So, to answer your questions : I first became aware of my stutter at about the age of 12. I probably has hesitations and dis-fluencies before, but I was never concious of them. My speech was nornal as far as I was concerned. In terms of when I think the time is right to open up to the family - well, it's kinda started to happen already - I wrote an article for the British Stammering Associations 'Speaking Out' magazine (http://www.stammering.org/so.html and I left a copy lying around my mothers house on the coffee table. She unfortunately, cannot read English, but she would have seen my photo on the front cover. My siblings would have seen it. And, in fact, I saw one of them pick up the magazine, look at the cover, and then put it down again. Okay, so maybe finding out why I'm on the cover may be a step too far for them, but the cat is out of the bag. The opportunity is there to ask me "Hey, what's this about?" And maybe one day soon, I'll mention it in a conversation. I'm going to do a Key Note speech at a stuttering Open Day on 6th Nov, and there is a family gathering on that evening - which I will miss - normally, I wouldn't want anyone to know why I'm not there. But this time, I'm happy reveal to them where I was instead. So, little steps are being taken. Thanks again for your response, and take care! Harry