Another great group this month! There were seven of us, and we had a special presentation by an adult who clutters about stuttering in the media.
She spoke about how there can be misrepresentations of people with disabilities in general, and specifically about people who stutter, in the media. She mentioned how the King’s Speech was an accurate representation of how a person who stutter’s family can respond negatively, how one character on the show M.A.S.H. stuttered and was made fun of until the doctor defended him (because a family member stuttered), and how on Criminal Minds, the lone stuttering character was a psychopathic serial killer.
We talked about other movies and tv shows with people who stutter and how many times the characters are “silly” or the butt of jokes.
The presenter also mentioned how cluttering is different from stuttering with mostly “mind-mazes”, although some of the people who stutter agreed it’s harder to get their thoughts out when tired or busy too.
Tips for presentations in general were also discussed, and it seems that most everyone feels they need to be extra prepared to feel comfortable with the material and to help fluency. We talked about how it can be frustrating when you are presenting something important, such as giving a speech for a school officer position, and then the stuttering interferes with the message. It feels like you’re being judged based on how you talk rather than the merit of what you are saying — which stinks!
Some members talked about how voluntary stuttering helps by putting the stutters out there so they are in control. People agreed that this is easier said than done and can be very difficult when the biggest wish is that the stuttering would just go away. It makes sense to prefer to be totally fluent in front of peers or when telling jokes, but then trying to hide the stuttering can make it even worse.
One mentor suggested putting voluntary stutters on every single word for chunks of time with safe people (family). The idea is to show the stutter who is boss and to get comfortable being in control when you really need it. Great idea!
Another stellar group and looking forward to the big group planned for December 4!