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From: Derek E. Daniels
Date: 10/19/03
Time: 7:04:59 PM
Remote Name: 152.163.252.162
I was involved with the Houston, TX NSA for almost two years, and will soon be co-facilitating a chapter in Bowling Green, OH. I am also a speech-language pathologist (SLP) who stutters. In addition, my entire master’s thesis focused on the life stories of African American men who stutter. The common thread throughout my personal experience, NSA experience, and research experience, is that everybody has a unique story. Everyone’s life has a unique history that shapes who we are. For many of us who stutter, our stories are never validated or heard. Our lives are either “invisible” or misrepresented. We have very few spaces to explore our experiences.
No one listened to my story as a person who stutters until I was 22 years old. Prior to that, I was simply told “that’s just the way things are.” (Everyone has problems, right?). In fact, I did not even know what a speech-language pathologist was, or that the field of communication disorders existed, until I was 21. I finally found the NSA when I was 25.
For a person who stutters, the NSA is a great way to find your voice and connect to the voices of others. It is also a great way for SLPs to connect to the stuttering community. Textbooks and research articles are excellent ways to learn about stuttering, but one can only learn so much from a textbook or article. There are no “page limits” or “editing cuts” from our stories at the NSA local group chapters – you get the raw data just as it is. We come from all walks of life – lawyers, SLPs, secretaries, teachers, construction workers, students, etc – yet we are all bonded by our varied experiences of stuttering. And no two experiences are exactly the same. I encourage people who stutter, SLPs, and anyone interested in stuttering to attend.
Derek E. Daniels, Doctoral Student, Bowling Green State University, DDani21113@aol.com