September 25 Meeting Update

Five members were present including a new member. Since this was a public speaking meeting, one of the members brought a copy of Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" from which to read. The new member then suggested that the rest of us continue reading from that book for their turn at speaking in front of the group.  This was done except for one member who read from a book on martial arts written by someone with whom he's familiar.

The new member remarked that it's always easier to talk or read aloud in an NSA meeting than it is in the outside world. He also talked about his problem transferring fluency techniques from speech therapy to the outside world.

The martial arts book contained a surprising fact for at least one member. This member thought martial arts students & practitioners tried to avoid physical confrontations. The book, however, talked about some younger students purposely trying to start fights with  gang members to try out their skills!

Another member talked about the great differences in weather in places where he's lived including New York city, northern CA & here.

We talked about the meetings that will be held on the last Wednesday of each month starting in October. A schedule for the next 6 months of Wednesday meetings was passed out. These meetings will continue to emphasize public speaking with some variation.

Essay by Katherine Preston, Author of "Out With It"

Check out this link to a very moving essay by Katherine Preston, author of the book Out with It: How Stuttering Helped Me Find My Voice. The essay is about her experience promoting her book and having to speak publicly as a stutterer. Here's an excerpt:

I watch my audience obsessively when I speak. I watch them laugh, and cry, I see people nod their heads fervently and whisper unheard asides to their friends nearby. The times that I have stuttered the most I have been met with steady eyes and standing ovations. My habitual reaction is to yearn for fluency, and yet the times that I’ve stuttered the least have resulted in yawns and the bored tapping of fingers on blue screens. I have realized that people want to see the “character” of my book up on stage. They want to see stuttering, to feel its curious intensity. I want that too. I want to acknowledge that stuttering exists, that it is nothing to be frightened of. I want to use the candid truthfulness of my speeches to build bridges between us. I aspire to give them what they want, and yet I also crave the rhythmic seduction of language that I find much easier to create on the page. I slip back into my habitual wish to control the atmosphere created by my words.

September 9 Meeting Update

The meeting began with a reading of the Welcoming Words, followed by introductions.

The group then did an exercise in structured communication, using the sentence: "I went to the beach and saw...." followed by a word beginning with the first letter of the alphabet, then the second, and so on.

A reading from a letter written by a former group member followed, and a discussion about the group member's stuttering challenges and how she overcame them.

Then we had a discussion about speaking at work, how the work environment affects fluency, and at school, especially when everyone goes around introducing themselves. A group member talked about using fluency techniques (pausing and continuous phonation) successfully when his turn came.

The group did more reading aloud, this time from plays. The goal was to practice any techniques  to achieve fluency, regardless of how it made people sound. Everyone did great really taking their time and sticking with a plan.

Finally, we had a Q&A session with speech and language pathology students.

by Matt

A Video Game Character Who Stutters

The game Borderlands 2 is getting well-deserved praise for the diversity of its characters. One of them is Karima, who stutters. The game developer talks about how and why he created this character:

"Karima stutters purely because, while you never meet her in person, we needed to give the player some sense that Hyperion’s presence had harmed her in some way. Giving her a stutter made her affliction clear, and allowed for an easy way to show the player’s actions had meaning – after the first mission, she no longer stutters. Nobody comments on it or mocks her for it because it honestly never occurred to me. In fact, the only mockery Karima receives are gendered insults from a misogynist named Dave, who ends the quest by dying violently (because, like the bandits Ellie crushes to death, I take great pleasure in making bigots and sexists pay for their douchery).

"After reading [an] email [from a player who is a stutterer, see below], however, I can say with some certainty that if Karima ever shows up again, she will have her stutter back – permanently – and we will continue to write her exactly as we did before. The knowledge that something we did (however unintentionally) touched someone in this kind of personal way is, to say the least, pretty damned great. This email showed me the power of inclusivity in all of its forms."

Player's e-mail: 

I was playing Borderlands 2 today when I came across the NPC Karima in the medicine man mission. At first I was a bit angry she had a stutter –I was hit in the head with shrapnel from an IED in al-anbar Iraq and have problems talking – because the stereotypes surrounding stutterers are not kind. Communication is one of the defining pieces of humanity and when you cannot communicate to those around you, they tend to view you as lesser. I can’t tell my daughter I love her without struggling through those 3 little words. I quickly realized the mission was written such and clearly illustrated just how evil Hyperion is. She was a very sympathetic character. Whoever wrote this went 180 degrees away from what I thought was going to happen in this case. Thank you. In a game where bat shit craziness is the norm – the writers injected a very subtle bit of humanity. For whatever reason, this really struck me. Thank you for taking the high road here. You skipped over cheap laughs here and in so doing made a big impact. Thank you.

Read more about the game and its characters here.

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.