Employment and stammering -- the work begins

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Re: employment and stammering

From: Andrew Harding
Date: 10/29/01
Time: 12:12:49 PM
Remote Name: 213.123.62.52

Comments

Hello,

Thanks for your thoughtful questions. I'll do my best to answer them in kind.

1) The nature of the first part of our campaign is to find out who the most receptive employers are, by working with personnel and human resource managers through their professional associations. There are numerous large companies here in the UK that support disability training and work placement programmes that we intend to approach directly to engage their interest in recruiting and developing people who stammer. We are alos working with an umbrella organisation called the Employers'Forum on Disability, whose 370 members are large private and public sector employers will soon receive a new briefing paper on stammering, prepared by the Forum in close contact with the British Stammering Association. Thus, while we don't have a direct programme in which companies take part directly, this could be a development of the campaign.

2) As you know, the corporate world are big on communicating (whatever that means), so this is the area that we will need to use as a hook to talk about stammering. I will really have a better idea of how our information is received next year, when people have actually seen what we are doing and saying. Up to now, we have been developing the brochures and organising the campaign launch. This was last Monday, which is why it's taken me a few days to respond.

3) What happens to the person who stutters going for an interview for an admin post involving communication depends on: i) the actual level of stammering. Clearly, a person with a severe stammer would not be suitable here, ii) how comfortable the person is with their own stammering and how well they can create a rapport and put people at ease. This is a big communication skill in itself and can make the world of difference between being successful, or not, at an interview; iii) the attitude of the interviewers. If an influential panel member is set against someone with any stammering working in such a position, the person who stammered would not have a good chance of getting the job.

Being an 'effective and efficient communicator' is a piece of corporate-speak that needs close scrutiny. Our central message to employers and people who stammer is that good communication involves a lot more than fluency. I think here the stakes really depend on the level of a person's actual stammering, how personable they are, and how much support they have from management. There's nothing like working harder to conceal stammering than to communicate with people for fear of losing one's job to erode both fluency and communication. Sure if there is a lot of time-pressure and the person does stammer quite a bit, then maybe such a job is not for them. However;

4) This is where our real life examples of people who stammer can provide an example to both employers and people who stammer that yes, it is possible to have a high profile role and stammer and be a good communicator. On a different note, good speech therapy is something that can open up more job opportunities, by providing the psychological and speech technique tools to reduce the level of stammering and the corrosive effects it can have on the communication process. I think a combination of rigourous, supportive therapy and as much work outside a clinic in a variety of situations as possible is a good start.

I also think that people who stammer have an important role in educating prospective employers about stammering. That means being open and upfron in an interview, showing that stammering does not impede the communication process, but rather, alter its course and pace a bit. It also means people who stammer taking the lead and asking for feedback from interviews in which they performed to their best but were unsucessful. It can sometimes be difficult to untangle the effect of stammering from other factors, but sometimes the signs are obvious. If it means using an employer's complaints proceedure to contest unfair treatment, then do just that. Bobby Childers has a good story about this on his ISAD paper.

Then there is the role of organisation like BSA, and more broadly in the UK, the Disability Rights Commission who just keep chipping away at the people's unawareness of disability rights and issues.

There is always more, but here a few of my thoughts on the subject.

Regards,

Andrew


Last changed: September 12, 2005