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From: Keith, semi retired recovering PWS (UK)
Date: 17 Oct 2006
Time: 12:04:00 -0500
Remote Name: 80.3.128.8
To Adeline, Akintunde, Anass, Ayodè, Jim (Alain, Angelè, Yasvin), Joseph, Kelemogile, Maciste, Mousa, Oumou, Ousmane, Sami. I will add my thanks to all those people who have posted comments. You do very inspiring work in very difficult places against a massive volume of apathy. Stammering is not usually fatal, so why get bothered about it! By your work you are all giving hope to an increasing number of stammerers / stutterers. May you go from strength to strength. The title of your paper ‘Out of Africa: The Spreading Self-Help Movement’ sums up the different approaches needed where you live. Where I live and where many people who have commented live, there is therapy from SLTs/SLPs (professionals in language). Self help, although it exists is rare. Self help groups are growing and begin to give longer term support to those stammerers / stutterers who have been to therapy. In many cases you have to bypass conventional therapy because professional therapists (SLTs/SLPs) are few or none existent and lack spare time to see everyone. As a person who stammerers (PWS), I would like to help you in any way I can, as would many of the readers of your papers. I would love to come and talk to you, or to groups of you, but my own funds make this difficult for me, other than via SKYPE etc. Some of you have gained knowledge from the Internet and contacts via the Internet. Through the Internet, I may be able to help. I have opened a new Internet resource. I intend to make it public on the 21st of October for use from the 22nd October. I would like this to be a useful tool for any self help group in the world (with at least one English speaker. In the future I will look at the possibility of translations to other languages). I am requesting the presence of professionals to answer questions from the groups. Time will show if there is interest from worldwide self help groups and professional therapists. PWS in your countries need you, so keep on doing what you are doing. Extend your comfort zones and begin to enjoy speaking. Keith (UK)