Recover From Stuttering - Lighten Up and Don't Beat Yourself Up!

One of the reasons we stutterers have a hard time controlling our fluency is that many PWS constantly reinforce the negative self-perceptions. Ok, so we don't like our stutters, and we are going to do all we can to get a handle on our problem. Being constantly negative and anxious about ourselves and our situations is not helping to heal anything, in fact, thinking in this way tends to reinforce the negative attitudes and feeds the anxiety that feeds the stutter. Try to lighten up!

Have you ever watched a movie where the local village idiot is portrayed as a stutterer who is directed to take on a stupid-is-as-stupid-does persona? It seems to be quite a common relationship that has been built up within society. The relationship between the disability of stuttering and reduced mental capacity has no foundation in reality whatsoever. This fact doesn't seem to reduce the occurrence of stuttering being used as a tool by many filmmakers simply to get a laugh.

I am the first person to admit that the scene in the movie A Fish Called Wanda where Ken (Michael Palin), who portrays a stutterer, is trying to explain where a key is located, is simply hysterical. As a stutterer myself, I felt sick from laughter and I secretly gave myself a kick up the backside for being amused. I really do understand that stuttering can look and sound amusing to people. In that case I knew the character of Ken was being portrayed by an actor and the general setting of the scene, the lines stuttered and the situation that the character Ken was placed in, was to many, truly funny. We have to be able to laugh at ourselves. I remember a night when members of the Australian Speak Easy Association (ASEA) were gathered at an annual camp. We were all relaxed sitting around after a meal discussing our stutters and situations in our past that had been truly traumatic. After hearing a few of the tragic stories we were all nearly rolling around on the floor in fits of laughter. The stories told were moments that, at the time, were truly and deeply embarrassing to the people relating the stories, and yet, as stutterers we were able to see the funny side of them.

It's important that we try to maintain our sense of humour regarding ourselves and not take ourselves too seriously.

Having said that, it would be refreshing for a movie or documentary maker to tell stories of stutterers, either living or passed, who have made real and positive differences in our society. Stuttering does not have to be a deterrent to success. Throughout history there have been many famous and successful people who stuttered.

Winston Churchill, for example, battled a stuttering problem all his life. Towards the end of his life he was known to have said, "My impediment is of no hindrance."

The history of famous PWS can be traced all the way back to biblical times. Moses is believed to have been a person who stuttered. In the Koran 20:26-29 Moses said, "Lord, open my breast, and do Thou ease for me my task, Unloose the knot upon my tongue, that they may understand my words." The analogy of a knot upon his tongue relates to his stuttering.

Isaac Newton, well-known scientist who established the law of gravity, asked that the windows of Parliament be closed so the public would not hear his stuttering.

I could go on and on giving examples of famous people from historical times and the present day who have dealt with their dysfluency in their own way and simply got on with their lives, and lived.

If you have a stutter, don't let it hold you back. If you hate your stutter, do something about it. You are the controller of your life. You can become master over your dysfluency. Recovery from stuttering can be rocky, but stick with it and dig in, have a sense of humour and enjoy yourself.

Join me on the road to fluency.

Dave E is one of the directors of Ezy-Speech, a complete in-home stuttering therapy and support program for adolescents and adults. Ezy-Speech has been developed via a successful collaboration between both specialist clinicians and recovering stutterers. For more information, visit the website: www.ezyspeech.com.au. Information about Ezy-Speech can also be found on the Australian Speak Easy Association website.