By Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, Frankie Paterson
This International Stuttering Awareness Day on 22nd October was particularly eventful for me as I was invited to appear on the radio alongside Liam Nattrass to talk about stammering. Liam is a Mental Health Practitioner and a person who stammers.
We were interviewed by seven different radio stations throughout the day on the 22nd October, starting with BBC Three Counties Breakfast Show with Andy Collins:
We really enjoyed talking to Andy, he made us almost forget about how nervous we were with his open and warm way of chatting. We even got to talk a bit about Gareth Gates singer songwriter, person who stammers and stammering ambassador, always a joy!
We then went on to be interviewed by Sky News Radio, Radio Essex and UCB Radio amongst other stations. On all the shows Liam and I were asked to give listeners information about stammering, namely what causes stammering, what it’s like to have a stammer, how common an issue it is and why one million people in the UK are thought to have stammers that they try to hide. We were asked what advice we would give to anyone who has a stammer, especially those who have stammers but suffer in silence.
“Don’t let having a stammer define you and most importantly don’t let it hold you back from anything you want to do in life”
As a person who stammers going on national radio to talk about stammering was the ultimate act of openness for Liam Nattrass, who has had a stammer since he started to talk. Liam now works as a Mental Health Practitioner for the NHS. It was a nerve wracking but positive experience for him going on the radio. There was a time when he would not have felt brave enough to be this open and in front of this many people; he has come a long way since then. Nowadays Liam feels strongly that one of the best things he can do for his stammer is to be open about it and embrace his role as a person who stammers as opposed to avoiding it or trying to hide that part of his identity. What better way to be open than to speak on national radio about his experience with his speech? All the radio hosts commended Liam for his bravery and confidence in speaking out openly about stammering. The advice Liam gave for people who stammer on all the shows followed similar lines, namely, don’t let having a stammer define you and most importantly don’t let it hold you back from anything you want to do in life. Sound advice indeed.
Interestingly one of the hosts we spoke to Gareth Cottrell from UCB radio is also a person who stammers. We were interested to hear on air about Gareth’s experiences. He told us he has a stammer in his day-to-day life and that he considers to be “often quite bad”. He finds that when he is on the radio he does not stammer. We talked about the hereditary nature of stammering as Gareth has concerns that his children may go on to stammer. I gave him some advice on how to communicate with his children if they do stammer to support them with their speech and to try to ensure that they do not develop anxiety or negative self-image in relation to their talking. I also explained that with stammering, as with most speech, language and communication challenges, early intervention from a speech and language therapist is proven to result in better outcomes for children.
Liam and I were both exhausted by the end of our day on the radio but both felt proud that we had done something that had seemed quite scary beforehand. We hope that we managed to reach people with our advice and generally increase awareness about stammering.
If your child has a stammer have a look here for information and strategies you can use to help.
If you yourself have a stammer take a look here for help and advice.
