International Stuttering Awareness Day
*EDIT: The above quote is by Kristin Chmela*
Happy October guys!! Did you know that October 22nd is International Stuttering Awareness Day? Honestly, I didn’t until a few months ago. Whoops! It began in 1998 and was started with the purpose of “recognizing the growing alliance between speech-language professionals and consumers, who are learning from each other and working together to share, give support, and educate one another and the general public on the impact that stuttering has on individuals’ lives” – ISAD Website.
The International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD) Conference celebrates stuttering on an international level and is an online conference that runs from October 1 to 22nd through the ISAD Website. There’s videos, papers, short stories, and tons of ways to interact with professionals and people who stutter in the stuttering community. I’m sharing a few of my favorite submissions down below! I had every intention of submitting a paper, however totally missed the deadline. Hopefully I can make it happen next year. So to compensate, I’m writing a blog post that pertains to the conference’s theme, which is growth through speaking. I’ll also be sharing more stuttering content all month long!
Related: National Stuttering Association Conference 2019 Recap
A Few Submissions
Growing together: The importance of the therapeutic relationship in stuttering therapy – Hilda Sønsterud and Kirsten Howells – this is a great piece describing how trust and an emotional connection to your speech therapist make therapy more effective. It’s an informative read that’s very important because trust plays a significant role in a client-therapist relationships!
Growth Through Speaking
There’s a lot of different ways I could go with this topic, but instead of over complicating this, I’m just going with the first thing that pops into my mind – which is growth through speaking with YOU.
Since starting this blog, I’ve met SO many new and amazing people in the stuttering community. I’ve spoken to business professionals, speech pathologists, engineers, school administrators, government officials, parents, kids, teens, you name it. Each person I’ve connected with has taught me something new about stuttering. I’ve learned that people travel many different paths to accept their stutter and that acceptance doesn’t look the same for everybody. I’ve also learned that people have different definitions of overcoming their stutter, and that everybody stutters differently.
Everyone I’ve met has offered very unique perspectives on stuttering that I would never have of thought of myself. And speaking with these people about their unique perspectives has unleashed my creative juices and allowed me to come up with some really fun blog posts on new topics, haha! From stuttering at work, to stuttering and dating, to challenging society’s behavioral roles, there’s a lot of different areas of life that stuttering is a part of that I’m really excited to talk more about.
Related: Stuttering and Dating
You all have showed me that the stuttering community is filled with lots of loud voices that just want to be heard. Changing perceptions, correcting stereotypes, and voicing opinions are just some of the goals that the stuttering community is working towards. I’m very proud to be a part of that. Everyone I’ve met is contributing in some way, whether it be wearing a pin that says “I stutter”, or running an online blog, or making films about stuttering. It’s incredible to see so many people’s passions reflect advocacy for the stuttering community. I’m so proud to be a part of this community and have grown to really appreciate my stutter because of it.
So, thank you to everyone who has supported my blog and any other initiative aimed at changing the public perception about stuttering. And if this is your first time visiting my blog, thanks for clicking over here and supporting the stuttering community! Make sure to visit the ISAD’s website regularly to see some fun content other people share about stuttering!
