Recap of National Stuttering Awareness Week Hangout on Air

To celebrate National Stuttering Awareness Week, Stutter Social broadcasted a Hangout on Air yesterday, featuring a panel of participants from across the international stuttering community, to raise awareness.

Participants included folks who stutter from Canada, the United States and India. 

Debbie Horovitch from Toronto, and someone who doesn’t stutter, also joined the fun to learn more about stuttering. “I really don’t have a lot of awareness around it," Horovitch said. "I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what causes it.”

“The purpose of this Hangout is to raise awareness about stuttering,” said Stutter Social co-founder David Resnick, from Los Angeles, as he kicked off the Hangout. “There are a lot of misconceptions out there because people are either misinformed or under-informed. They haven’t ever spoken to someone who stutters. This is an opportunity for people who stutter and don’t stutter alike to ask questions, to learn, share experiences and knowledge.”

Topics included what stuttering is, how it feels like, eye contact, and common myths and misconceptions around stuttering.

Pamela Mertz, a participant from New York, defined stuttering as “the involuntary disruption of the normal flow of speech,” which can manifest itself in different ways for each person.

Mertz’s stuttering manifests itself in terms of repetitions, prolongations and blocks (when words don’t come out), she says. “It’s definitely involuntary and I think it’s important to note that because it’s not our fault. It’s not something that we’re to blame for. It’s just the way that we speak. It’s a different form of communication.”

In terms of what it feels like, Resnick said it’s like a “disconnect between the mechanism that is formulating speech and thoughts, and the mechanism that gets the word out. It’s as though someone put a cement wall in there and I’ve got to pull it down every time it comes up. It takes a lot of energy. Stuttering can be exhausting.”

Stutter Social co-founder Mitchell Trichon, also from New York, likened stuttering to an iceberg.  While stuttering involves repetitions, prolongations and blocks, that’s only what we see, he says. There’s also what’s under the surface – the emotions, which can include embarrassment, shame or guilt. “Stuttering can be disabling,” he said. “However, it doesn’t have to be. I’ve seen people with severe stutters be great communicators. It’s important to realize that.”

Participants also chatted about maintaining eye contact while stuttering. "I realized how very intimate it is to be speaking to someone and looking at them in the eye and stuttering," Resnick said.

While it can be a challenge, Trichon offered another reason why folks who stutter often lose eye contact: privacy. "I've heard stuttering described as a feeling of being naked in front of someone and the person is giving them their privacy while that happens," he said.

As stuttering is shrouded in mystery, there are many myths about the causes of stuttering, which, as Resnick says, can include being nervous or not knowing what we want to say.

For instance, Dustin Linkins, a participant from Fort Myers, Florida, said stuttering may be viewed as a sign of weakness. “As a police officer prior to my current job, I would stutter on a traffic stop. People would ask me, ‘are you talking that way because you’re scared of me?’ I would say, ‘I’ve been stuttering since I was five years old. You really don’t scare me.’”

Mertz said it’s important for people to realize that they can reframe stuttering as a strength. “Stuttering can make you memorable. People know who I am , where I work because I’m the one that stutters. For a while, that was not what I wanted to be perceived as. Now I can look at with ‘God, they know who I am! They remember who I am!’ That can be be a real strength in today’s world.”

The Hangout is available for viewing on YouTube and is embedded above.

Stutter Social hosting Q+A Hangout on Air for National Stuttering Awareness Week

In celebration of National Stuttering Awareness Week, on Thursday at 8:30 PM EST (Toronto, New York), Stutter Social is hosting a live Q+A Hangout on Air with a panel of participants from across the international stuttering community to give others a chance to learn about stuttering.

Did we say live? Yes, we did. The Hangout will be live streamed (and archived) on YouTube. Unlike some of our other Hangouts, we invite anyone - including those who don't stutter - to watch the live feed and submit any questions they may have. Panel participants will be discussing a range of topics, including what stuttering is, how it feels to stutter, and stuttering myths and misconceptions.

The link to the live feed will be posted on our Facebook, Twitter and Google+ channels. So watch the fun, submit your questions and learn more about stuttering! And don't forget to RSVP on our Facebook event page!

Top 10 benefits of stuttering

Keeping with Stutter Social's vision of connecting people who stutter from around the world and seeing them empowered, Thursday night's Google+ Hangout featured a discussion about the benefits of stuttering.

Participants created a list of 10 benefits and opportunities that stuttering brings.

1. It makes us compassionate.

One participant suggested in the Hangout that having a stutter makes us humble and gives us a sense of empathy for other people and their issues.

2. It allows us to meet others from around the world.

Another participant highlighted that, if he hadn't stuttered, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet so many inspiring people from around the world and share experiences with them.

3. It lets us overcome challenges.

In other words, having a stutter makes us overcome obstacles and challenges that even fluent people may be afraid of doing, such as public speaking.

4. It makes you dedicated to improving yourself.

Not to say that stuttering needs improving, but being someone who stutters provides us with a sense of persistence and dedication to being the best person that we can be.

5. It makes us memorable.

Let's face it - people usually remember who we are due to the fact we stutter. It's an interesting, exciting trait to have.

6. Stuttering makes us consider what's important to us.

It teaches us how to prioritize and achieve our goals, which, for one participant, includes practicing breathing, working on his physique and improving his life in general.

7. As people who stutter, learning how to deal with problems makes us feel more liberated.

Similarly, as another participant suggested, learning how to achieve the goals that we set out and deal with any issues can provide us with feelings of liberation.

8. Stuttering gives us a sense of discipline.

For another participant, stuttering has made him more disciplined. "I wouldn't be as disciplined to work towards my goals if I didn't stutter," he said. 

9. Stuttering has opened up career paths.

Another participant has said he wouldn't have pursued a rewarding career in speech-language pathology if he wasn't a person who stutters. 

10. Stuttering has taught us how to value effective communication.

Last but not least, a participant also highlighted that stuttering teaches us how to get our message across effectively.

Do you think there are any benefits to stuttering? Are there opportunities you feel you would have missed out on if you didn't stutter? Please feel free to share your thoughts below.

Stutter Social #PWSchat - Surviving the telephone

On Monday, March 11, people who stutter from around the world converged on Twitter to discuss their phone survival tactics and how communication on social media affects their lives. The discussion, hosted by Stutter Social, took place under the #PWSchat hashtag and was Stutter Social's first weekly live Twitter chat for people who stutter. These Twitter chats will serve as a standing archive of real peoples' feelings, ideas and stories about stuttering. If you missed last Monday's #PWSchat, here's the Storify:
This Monday's #PWSchat at 9PM EST will focus on disclosing your stuttering (specific questions will be revealed at the start of the chat). We hope to see you then!

Join us Monday for Stutter Social's first live Twitter chat!

Stutter Social is hosting its first-ever live Twitter chat about stuttering on Monday, March 11 at 9PM EST (Toronto, New York).

For an hour on Monday, we'll be chatting all about phone survival tactics! We'll ask a series of questions pertaining to the topic, and anyone will be able to answer and offer their thoughts using the #PWSChat hashtag.

We hope this will be the start of a weekly Twitter chat, in which we'll have a topic of the week. It will be a great opportunity for us to share our thoughts on a range of topics related to stuttering.

So, if you're on Twitter, remember to follow us @stuttersocial. If you're not on Twitter, it's easy to create a free account from the main website. And if you're unable to make it to our first Twitter chat on Monday, not to worry! You'll be able to chime into the discussion at any time with the #PWSChat hashtag.

We hope to see you then!

Introducing our new host: Matt Schreifels

Stutter Social is happy to announce a new addition to its lineup of hosts: Matt Schreifels, a participant from Minnesota.

Schreifels, a 32-year-old person who stutters from St. Cloud, Minnesota, first heard about Stutter Social almost a year ago from a podcast about stuttering. "Before giving (it) a try, I was pretty nervous about what sort of interactions I'd have with other participants within the hangout," he says. "But from the moment I entered the hangout, everyone was very welcoming and friendly. Stutter Social hangouts are an extremely laid back environment. It's a chance to be with other like-minded people who stutter, a place to be who we are without hesitation."

After participating for about 10 months, Schreifels decided to become a host. "What made me want to become a Stutter Social host was the chance to meet and make friends with as many stutterers worldwide as possible."

He will be hosting every other Tuesday at 8:30 PM Eastern Standard Time (Toronto, New York), alternating with co-founder Daniele Rossi.

When not hosting or participating in Stutter Social, Schreifels can be seen hunting or fishing. He aspires to have his own furniture-building workshop. He also started attending the recently established St. Cloud chapter of the National Stuttering Association (NSA) and he hopes to attend the upcoming NSA annual conference in Scottsdale, Arizona this July. "I feel support groups of any kind are such a great asset," he adds.

Stutter Social presenting in 15th annual ISAD online conference

Photo credit: Judith Kuster

The Stutter Social team will be included on the list of presenters for "A voice and something to say," the 15th annual International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD) online conference.

The conference begins on October 1 and lasts until ISAD on October 22.

According to Judith Kuster, conference host and professor emeritus at Minnesota State University in Mankato, the conference represents a world-wide endeavor by people interested in stuttering, including people who stutter, their friends and families, and professionals such as educators, researchers and clinicians.

Prior to the conference the presenters submit papers on a variety of aspects of stuttering. For the duration of the conference, threaded discussions take place between presenters and participants. Instructions on how to register will be available beginning on October 1.

All papers remain available online after the conference concludes. Past online conferences are freely available in the conference archives.

The Stutter Social team hopes to see you on October 1 for the beginning of the conference!