Hello everyone,

Last night, the Dallas Chapter of the National Stuttering Association held it’s monthly meeting, and here’s a quick recap of what happened.

With 28 people in attendance, including two new members (welcome J.J. and Brandon!) and six dedicated significant others joining us for a panel discussion, we were ready to have a very special meeting.

Our topic of the night was “Relationships & Stuttering”, a continuation of the meeting we had several months ago, where we talked about how we, as people who stutter, approach relationships and navigate the dating world. However, our views were only half of the equation and this time, with the help of one of Dallas’ most beloved SLPs, Tricia Krauss-Lehrman, we looked at things from the opposite perspective: what do significant others think of having a relationship with a person who stutters?

For that, we had a panel of six significant others of members in our group:

Our panel, from left to right: Stachia Hicks, Sarah Moran, Dave Hart, Valerie Dayer, Valerie Poloche, and Greg Foster.
After introducing themselves, the panelists were asked what they knew about stuttering before meeting their significant other, and all but 2 had no first hand experience with stuttering, basing their ideas on “movies and stereotypes”, as one panelist admitted.

When our panelists were asked “what was the first impression you had meeting your significant other”? we had probably our best moments of the night.

As the answers started flowing (“Didn’t notice it at first”, “No big deal”, “He seemed really confident”, “I thought he looked very nurturing and attractive”, “Either I like you or I don’t, how you talk is not a defining factor”, “If it is not a problem for him it’s not a problem for me”) a clear pattern started to emerge: stuttering does not define an individual and there are many other qualities potential future spouses look for.

Before we closed the night, Stachia Hicks, who has known Russ for more than 60 years (#relationshipgoals!) summarized it perfectly when she said:  “Communication is more than what you say or how you say it. It’s about the exchange, the energy in the room and the chemistry between two people.”

It was successful panel thanks to our dedicated significant others. Thank you panelists, members who were willing to bring their partners in and peel back the layers, and to Tricia for facilitating yet another flawless meeting.

Another great meeting in the bag. Till next time!

DallasNSA