The most important steps to follow are patience - kindness - and understanding. At ELSA youth meetings there are people from across Europe with a wide variety of experiences to talk with and form close friendships during one week in July.

Thirty young people from across Europe came together in Nijmegen one warm July afternoon, rather reticent and reserved. Five days later, thirty people left truly satisfied, many having made friends for life within the stuttering associations across Europe.

This was the European League of Stuttering Associations 5th youth meeting in ten years funded by the Council of Europe. This year's theme was 'empowering young people to work with the media'.

Many graduates of previous youth meetings have gone on to be board members of their respective associations - a testimony to the desire of the young people to take an active part in the running of their association.

Edwin J. Farr, ELSA chair and youth meeting organiser

Christopher Baird

"We are much more than a person who stammers"

From the first day in Nijmegen it was amazing just how quickly we all gelled and began to feel like life-long friends. We all put little pins on a map showing where we came from: Iceland, Holland, Finland, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden and England, what an amazing mix.

The next day we started the workshops. We began by creating an advertisement campaign and a poster for the activities of: '2007, year of young people who stutter', including a potential news announcement, budget, and a project plan. Each of the teams created their own campaign and presented it to the group; the result of this was proof, if ever it was needed, of the energy, imagination and creativity of young people who stammer. It was so wonderful to see other young people who stammer given a chance to express themselves however they wanted - a chance to get really creative and at times very giddy. Never before have I been in a group where even the most severe of stammerers can feel so happy and comfortable to offer up endless suggestions, and get so involved in a task.

Later in the week we practiced interview techniques, and even made a video with the brilliant Erik Lamens where rather foolishly I agreed to take on the role of joint presenter with a Spanish girl, Ana. Yes it was embarrassing, but again that really didn't matter. The videos were shown on the last night, as uncomfortable as I felt watching myself I knew it wasn't a problem, we all stammered, but we all proved just how much more we all are than a 'person who stammers'.

If you are reading this trying to make up your mind about going to something similar, then all I can say is go! You won't regret it, you will laugh, cry (yes we did cry), learn, grow, and gain a whole new family. I gained so much from just one week.

My thanks go to the brilliant team at ELSA who made all of this possible: Edwin, Konrad, Anita and Gina.

Claire Pirnie

"I wrote an article about stammering for the magazine at work"

One evening I was looking through the BSA members newsletter when something caught my attention. It was an advertisement for two British representatives to attend a European League of Stuttering Associations (ELSA) Youth Meeting in Grosbeek in the Netherlands. The theme of the meeting was 'Stuttering and the Media - Empowering Young People to Work with the Media'.

The thought of working with the media has always terrified me. I did not think anything (except a large sum of money) could inspire me do such work! I did, however, think it would be a fantastic opportunity to meet people from different countries and find out how they deal with stammering. I also thought it would inspire me to become more actively involved with BSA Scotland. I did not think for a moment I'd get a place. After all, who would not jump at the chance to stay for six nights in Holland for 100 euros!

The news I had been selected came as a shock. Before I knew it, I was arriving at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and wondering how I was going to ask for a train ticket to Nijmegen. I navigated my way across the airport to the station where I faced the nightmarish situation of asking for a ticket, through a glass screen, in front of a queue, in a foreign country. I watched the queue get shorter and shorter. When it was my turn I succeeded in asking for my ticket. I was so relieved.

I boarded the double-decker train to Duivendrecht, before changing trains to Nijmegen. I felt great! But then an hour into my journey the train started to move backwards. An elderly Dutch man must have noticed my expression of horror as he asked me where I was going. Now I experienced horror of a different kind. I was going to have to try and say Nijmegen! But somehow, for the second time that day, I said it. The man explained that I had not missed my stop. I arrived in Nijmegen and got a taxi to Grosbeek where the meeting was being held.

After registering with ELSA Chair, Edwin Farr, I began the handshakes and introductions with the other delegates from Holland, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Ireland, England, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Germany, Sweden and Spain. Almost everyone could speak three languages. I was amused when Ella, one of the Finnish delegates, said I was the only person from Scotland she had met who she could understand. The majority of people who stammer I've met have been 'covert' like myself, avoiding stammering probably more than we'd like to admit. Here it was different. These were very outgoing people who stammered overtly and seemed to have very little word and situational avoidance. Most seemed to have a lot less fluency than I have, although, it could not have been easy speaking in a foreign language.

Some people had very little sensitivity towards stammering. I cringed when Gabi from Spain used loud voluntary stammering from the balcony to tell the people passing that we were all at a meeting about stammering! I found it all a bit of a culture shock. The five days of workshops, lectures, presentations and socialising passed quickly. We all had a terrific time and promised to stay in touch. All too soon it was back to the real world, and wondering how I was going to ask for a bus ticket back to Nijmegen. This time I did have problems - but I was actually more concerned about my hangover!

I arrived back in Edinburgh with the ELSA experience on my mind. I wondered how people with almost no fluency could be so much less sensitive about stammering than me. The experience desensitised me a lot. I decided to write an article to raise awareness about stammering for the magazine at my work. I never imagined this would be something I would ever do.

Claire Pirnie
Chair, Edinburgh Stammering Support Group
(This article appeared in Issue 2 of the BSA Scotland Newsletter blether)

Two years on... from ELSA 2003

Rezina Ahmed

My experience with ELSA was eye opening. It allowed me to think constructively in a fun and supportive environment. We were encouraged to share stories and experiences and take something back to our own countries to contribute to BSA and stammering in general. I came back to UK and got on with my life but always at the back of my mind I wanted to make a difference and contribute, but it had to be something I believed in.

I joined the Metropolitan Police in December 2004 as an independent advisor to raise awareness and training on disability - my own personal agenda is to raise awareness and training on stammering.

I also started a self-help group with a friend after returning from an NLP workshop in the United States. At ELSA I made some good friends who I still keep in touch with. Thanks to the organisers of ELSA for giving me this experience.

Veeral Dhanani

After I attended the youth meeting in 2003 I took a TEFL course to teach English in a foreign country (which I had previously booked). I couldn't have hoped for better timing. Having spent a week exclusively in the company of other people my own age who stuttered, stuttering in my mind became totally 'normal' because everybody was doing it! When it came to doing the TEFL course, I was very aware that my stuttering might be a problem, but I didn't let these thoughts stop me from getting on with what I had to do.

I've now been teaching in Taiwan for the past year and a half. I still stutter, I'm still very shy, and it is still the strangest thing to hear myself speak fluently in situations where previously I would have had trouble. I still think about and talk about the youth meeting like it happened only yesterday.

From the Winter 2005 edition of Speaking Out