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From: Grant Meredith
Date: 12 Oct 2011
Time: 21:17:08 -0500
Remote Name: 141.132.192.95
Hey, Thank you for sharing your story. Stuttering conferences are great to attend as you get to see so many other people who stutter with all different experiences, outlooks and views. Support is so helpful to find, embrace and to offer. Yes I do use my stuttering as an asset, and I should. It is part of me that I cannot simply cut off or drop. Why not use it to your advantage? Why live your life ashamed of who you are? Be proud of who you are and you will be amazed how quickly your attitude towards yourself and the world changes. Also you will be amazed how quickly the attitudes of others towards yourself also changes. Our attitudes and perceptions reflect to others what we think of ourselves. Again great to hear your story. Am I embarrassed or ashamed of a long block? Good question. Certainly when I was younger I was but now I guess with experience and understanding I am not. I cannot afford to. Sometimes during a 2 hour presentation I may experience many long and harsh blocks. If I were to be ashamed of them I would not want to continue or even show up for the presentation. The audience would also notice it and feel unease. Sometimes I am a little hard on myself and look back thinking perhaps that could have gone better but generally I am fine with it. The blocks, repetitions and prolongations keep coming to various degrees but I keep presenting. A quick story. I presented last year at a research conference hosted at my own university. I stuttered very severely throughout the whole presentation and they needed to give me extra time to finish. Guess what? That afternoon I was awarded a Vice-Chanchellor’s award for my presentation.