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From: Anita
Date: 22 Oct 2006
Time: 11:55:22 -0500
Remote Name: 81.228.218.44
Hi Katie. You hit the nail on the head! You wrote "We need to learn to be able to talk freely about stuttering in order to assist people with acknowledging stuttering and help them live their lives without being afraid to speak or live life to the fullest." If PWS want to speak fluent, they should get all the help they need. And if they are ok with their speech, they should feel safe to do so. You don't tell a deaf person to hide his deafness, instead we try to speak more slow and articulate more. We don't need much, but that little help is so vital! And yes, ELSA is doing a lot of great and interesting stuff (see www.elsa.info) with the highlight the European Youth Meetings. (see earlier on-line conferences, where I tell more about them). At the age of 27 I found a leaflet about a self-help group. Until then I thought I was alone with my stutter. This completely changed my life! Today I wish for all PWS to find others who stutter. To go to meetings and camps and meet others of your age in the same situation and talk about stuttering (or not, as we all understand anyway) and have a fantastic time together. And I wish to welcome you all to Croatia next year for the World Congress!!! Today I have dedicated my life to telling my story, work with and for PWS locally, nationally and internationally on all levels of society. For if I have reached out to one single person, it's all been worth it. To see that child's eyes glow with pride as she's found a soul mate who tells the class stuttering is ok and that true friends wait and not bully as we all have something we're good and less good at. And the memory of this class where the children asked for my autograph afterwards will last forever... :-) Anita Do you feel like it made a difference in changing perspectives about stuttering? Was it successful? Did you see a change in the way people were able to talk about their stuttering and express their feelings? Thank you, Katie Borek