Movie Trailer: THISISSTUTTERING

I had the privilege of seeing the entire thisisstuttering movie at the 2013 NSA Conference, and I was deeply moved and impressed by it. The movie hasn't been released yet, but I wanted to share the trailer with you.

Here's a synopsis of the movie from Morgan Lott's website:

thisisstuttering is a true story about Morgan Lott, a college student with a stutter. During the summer of 2012, Morgan pursued another round of speech therapy to try to fix his speech impediment for the final time. Through speech therapy sessions, personal reflections, and public assignments, Morgan seeks to get a handle on a stutter that has plagued him for years, discovering himself in the process. thisisstuttering invites you to witness a raw, authentic story of a stutterer and his pursuit of self-discovery and healing from the impediment that 1% of the population suffers from.

thisisstuttering :: official theatrical trailer from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.

Message from Monse

Several of you will remember Monse, who attended our meetings a few times before she graduated from university and returned to Chile. A few days ago we received an e-mail from her, addressed to the whole group. Here it is:

Dear Support Group, 

This is Monse, from Chile. I joined the group for a few months but left after I graduated in May. I thought of emailing you sooner but I wanted to wait until I was able to find out some things I want to share with you. Finally, this weekend I did!

Ever since sharing those lovely support sessions with you, I wondered whether when I came back to Chile I would be able to join a similar group down here. After much inquiring, I was able to find a small group that meets every other week in downtown Santiago. Last Saturday, I joined their meeting for the first time. Their group is a lot more recent that the Irvine group, but their spirit is as strong. They reminded me of a lot of things I had accomplished while I attended your meetings but that I had forgotten once I came back to Chile. Now, as a new week starts, I know what I have to do. Share, share my stuttering with others, and use those "awkward" opportunities to tell others what this is about. 

More importantly, the support group here in Chile reminded me of a very clear goal I had set for myself while I still lived in the US: to write an ethnographic research on stuttering in Chile. Yesterday, I finally started my research. It´ll take a long time to finish but I´m determined to channel my stuttering and your support into something positive and long-lasting.

I guess this is my way of saying, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. As I read your blog posts, I am reminded of you a group of the kindest people who changed my life for the better. 

With love, 
Monse, from Chile

iStutter Project

Inspired by the 2013 NSA Conference, David Friedman created a lapel pin to make it easier to start a conversation about stuttering in a business setting and promote stuttering awareness. If you'd like to support this project by buying a pin (all profits benefit the National Stuttering Association), please visit his website www.istutterproject.com.

August 12 Meeting Update: A Different Way of Looking

Here's a different way of looking at the phone: as an opportunity to practice fluency techniques without having to worry about how you look. A new group member pointed this out at our last meeting; he actually prefers the phone for some types of speech practice! It's a positive side of this much dreaded instrument that I didn't think about before.

When it comes to face-to-face conversations, the emphasis in our discussion fell once again on eye-contact. It's valuable in so many ways: to build self-confidence, to clue in your listener about how to react when you stutter ("Stay calm, everything is okay"). A group member mentioned another benefit: keeping eye contact makes it less likely for your listener to interrupt you.

But there's also that awful moment when, even though you're keeping eye contact as you try to get through a block, your listener looks away. Your heart sinks; negative thoughts flood in. That makes the block worse and traps you in a vicious cycle. What to do? This is the time to remember that we're not responsible for other people's reactions, only our own.

Another frequent topic at our meetings is introductions, and we touched on it again yesterday. We talked, in particular, about the benefits of being open about stuttering right off the bat when you meet someone new. The biggest obstacle is awkwardness, not being sure how to broach the subject. But there are other ways of incorporating advertising into conversations than just to say bluntly, "Hi, my name is... I stutter." You can use a block (an unintentional one or a voluntary one) as an opportunity to mention that you're working on your speech. At a job interview, when the question about your greatest fear or challenge comes up, you can bring up your speech and your commitment to improving it and doing your best at your job in spite of the difficulties that your speech puts in your way.

It's a different way to look at stuttering: as an opportunity rather than an obstacle, a source of strength rather than a weakness--and to teach others to look at it in the same way, too.