June 10, 2012

Hard evidence..

I have often been told by people: Stammering is no big deal. We dont treat stammerers differently! Some people have even said: we think stammering is cool! May be they are right. Who knows! 
Last time I went to a school, to offer free group therapy to a school of 400 students, the principal told me: Why waste your time? we dont have any stammering child here!
But the truth is out there (like aliens!). Here is an excerpt from a report:
"Children who stutter are at three times greater risk of being bullied at school compared with peers who speak fluently."
We can solve a problem only AFTER we have acknowledged it. And when it comes to acknowledging, we, the stammerers, must do our bit. We can not sit quiet in our comfort zone and hope Martians to do our job.. Here is the full report.
PS: I also remember being told by many young stammerers, who came to me for counseling: I was gaining a grip over my disfluencies when someone bullied me and thereafter, I just lost all control over my speech.. ie. Bullying does make stammering worse.

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