[ Contents | Search | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: David Shapiro
Date: 06 Oct 2006
Time: 14:54:36 -0500
Remote Name: 152.30.155.33
Hi Joseph, I am happy to read all of your questions posted here; they are excellent. The issue of attitudes and discrimination is complex indeed. In the USA, we have legislation that prohibits discrimination. Many other countries have similar legislation; other countries are following in these footsteps. However, laws do not always reflect what might be in someone’s heart. For this reason, heightening public awareness and acceptance of people with exceptionalities, including people who stutter, is a significant and shared responsibility of professionals (speech-language pathologists), consumers (the self-help community), and many others (educators, social advocates, politicians, etc.). The good work you are doing in Uganda, in my opinion, is such an important step in the right direction. By bringing together people who stutter and their (our) families with the professional community, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish together when we learn and work together. One year ago in Cameroon, I learned from the Lamnso dialect, Boyoo dze kiwo-oh kimo-on kikur kifah’ (“One hand cannot tie a bundle.”). If you are considering having your legislators introduce bills to prohibit discrimination, many of us could provide you with a copy of such legislation that is already in place in the USA. Keep up the good work. David