Moving beyond narratives of 'overcoming' stammering

My contribution to The Stammering Collective was a talk reflecting on my work carried out over the last 10 years in relation to public understanding and awareness of stammering.  I questioned how stammering is perceived and defined by the public, spoke about how we might change wider understanding of stammering, and how we might be able to move beyond popular narratives of “overcoming” stammering.

Media engagement has been part of my professional roles with the Irish Stammering Association, the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists and the International Communication Project. A consistent theme I have promoted in print media, online publications, and in radio and television interviews is that, essentially, it is ok to stammer. Furthermore, it need not be seen as a negative quality needing to be fixed and it should certainly not limit the possibilities for an individual. These messages need to be repeated.

As the talk was intended as a conversation starter, it did not have a neat conclusion. Public engagement will continue over the coming years. I look forward to seeing where the conversation leads to in 2032 and again in 2042. I would hope that the “overcoming” narrative has changed and that I am able to listen to many more stammering voices on my hologram device. I also hope that these stammering voices are talking about lots of interesting things beyond the topic of stammering.