We had two attendees at our meeting on 4/19.
We watched Megan Washington, an Australian singer who stutters, give a TEDtalk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MegHiL93B0) about her experiences with stuttering. It was fascinating to hear the personal side of someone who is famous that stutters. Check out the video and let us know your thoughts!
We discussed interacting with others and how we feel about meeting new people. One attendee mentioned that is better to go on the “offensive” than the defensive. By this he meant when you go into a social interaction, be the one to initiate the conversation rather than anticipate when someone is going to talk to you. If you are in class, be the one to volunteer to go first or be the one to raise your hand rather than waiting to be called on. This, we decided, may reduce the pressure on persons who stutter. Do you agree with this? How do you choose to approach social interactions?
One interesting topic that we discussed was what would you do if you were in line at a store and the person behind you was stuttering. Would you introduce yourself to them and talk about stuttering? What if you were in a social interaction and met someone new that stuttered… would you comment on it? Would you talk about your own stuttering?
Overall, it was a great meeting. Join us at our next meeting on Tuesday, 5/3/16, to be part of the conversation. If you would like to get more involved with our chapter or have suggestions on how to improve meetings, please send me an email at stutteringsupport@misericordia.edu.
Take care,
Terry