Posts Tagged stammering

My brother Chris has stammered for all of his life.  There is no doubt that it affected his education and also his social life.  There were times that his stammering was so bad that, as a brother, it was painful to watch.

He hasn’t “got over it”, that is something most stammerers never do, what he has done is to learn to control it.

He has been attending group therapy sessions for a while and he suggested that they stage a public speaking event.  this would have the double benefit of giving members of the group the opportunity to face some of their fears by speaking in public.  It would also give them the opportunity to explain to others what it is like to live with a stammer and how they should deal with people that stammer when talking to them.  Chris was given the task of arranging the event.

I was asked  to help out by writing and issuing a press release, which I was of course happy to do.  I wrote two releases in the end. One aimed at people who may wish to speak at the event and another to attract attendees.

My normal subject matter is engineering and technology products and applications so it was great to get my teeth into something different.

I issued the release to about 20 relevant outlets.  The day after sending it Chris received a call asking for an interview, which he duly gave.  This interview resulted in almost a full page of coverage.  I believe there was more print coverage too and also radio mentions.  Had I had more lead time prior to the event I would also have reached out to a couple of bloggers and a UK stammering group on Face-book.

Cutting courtesy of KM Media

The event itself was well attended and seemed to go very well (unfortunately due to other commitments i was unable to attend).  Chris sent me a letter telling me about the event.  Some of the experiences that stammerers have to contend with are dreadful.  One guy was on the bus trying to ask for a ticket when the driver laughed at him. He was so embarrassed he had to get off.  Another was once punched in the face just because he stammered.

My brother worked hard to stage this event and will be putting on more.  I was just pleased that I could contribute in some small way to it’s success and also pleased to be able to extend myself by tackling an unfamliar subject.