BT's Open World
By Jason Marshall

Having recently graduated, I found the prospect of finding a graduate job to be extremely daunting. I declared my stammer as a disability on application forms and was always willing to discuss it with prospective employers, citing my work with coastal breathing to overcome a major problem as an attractive strength. I had only positive experiences of companies' recruitment processes.

I now work for British Telecom (BT) through their Graduate Scheme. During the interview, my stammer had been extremely overt, but I was impressed with the interviewers' willingness to understand my stammer and to get to know me as a person. By bringing my stammer into the open at an early stage, I have received nothing but support from my team. BT actively supports my attendance as a volunteer coach at an intensive speech therapy programme.

I believe that the key to overcoming the barriers presented by a stammer is simply to be honest, so that stammering ceases to be an issue for either you or a prospective employer.