I was invited to join my first monthly stammering support group about a year ago. I remember the feeling of excitement at being in a room full of people who sounded like me and who had some understanding of what the daily experience of stammering is like. A couple of months back Patrick Campbell, co-author of ‘Stammering Pride and Prejudice’ popped into the meeting. We had a short discussion about disability and stammering which I found intriguing, so I thought I would give it a read.
Every so often, if you are lucky, you come across something that profoundly challenges your world view. The arguments in this book have created one of those mind-bending moments for me. It made me think that instead of striving for fluency perhaps I should be trying to discover stammering self-acceptance and find happiness there. Reflecting on the monthly meetings, I realized that I really enjoyed hearing people stammer. This led me to wonder if my stammer could give others a similar pleasure. If that were possible, perhaps I could derive enjoyment from my own stammer?