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From: Alan Badmington
Date: 03 Oct 2004
Time: 15:21:55 -0500
Remote Name: 84.65.0.233
Hi Sheree, I think that some adolescents experience difficulty opening up to adults about anything, not just stuttering. It's an uncertain time in their lives. Recounting my teenage years is not easy because I am getting rather long in the tooth ;-) No, seriously, I feel that in order for me to have confided in someone, he/she would first have needed to gain my trust. It would have been essential that I felt safe in their company, knowing that my views mattered and would be treated with respect and confidentiality. I wish someone had told me that it was OK to stutter and that I was not to blame. It would also have helped if I had realised that the public, in general, know very little about stuttering. There is such an ignorance of how to react in the presence of someone who stutters. I don't feel that the majority of people deliberately intend to ridicule, or make the PWS feel uncomfortable - they simply feel ill at ease themselves, not knowing how to behave. Had I known this, I would probably have tried to make others more aware of what I was experiencing. I would also have appreciated a greater input about the subject at school so that teachers, and other pupils, had a greater awareness about what was happening. I regularly give talks to community organisations in an attempt to increase public awareness about stuttering. I am amazed at the genuine interest shown by the audiences that I address. One final point - I would have welcomed the oppportunity to meet and speak with another person who stuttered. Today, PWS need not feel so isolated, due to a greater dissemination of information; the availabilty of various stuttering associations; and, of course, the advent of the Internet (with such events as the one in which we are now participating). Thank you for reading my article and expressing your interest. Kindest regards Alan