Campaign
An Appeal for Change by the British Stammering Association
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| "I have had a stammer all of my life but with support and the understanding of those around you people who stammer can become whatever they want to become - even a politician who gives speeches in front of hundreds of people!"
Ed Balls, Shadow Home Secretary and Patron of the BSA |
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| "The British Stammering Association (BSA) provides an invaluable service that helps people achieve their true potential. I have learned a great deal from their work and I strongly encourage other professions and businesses to support BSA.
The combination of training, research and practice focused on building trust and achieving effective communication are essential ingredients for improving social mobility. Careers advisers are working closely with BSA to ensure individuals who stammer receive appropriate information and support to help fully maximise their ambitions and talents."
Dr Deirdre Hughes, Immediate Past President, Institute of Career Guidance & Associate Fellow, Institute for Employment Research (IER), Warwick University |
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| "So for me, the battle not to let my stammer limit my own career started 30 years ago with my first interview and continues today.
Luckily though, many of my colleagues at Ernst & Young have been great at encouraging me not to allow my stammer to hold me back and their support, together with the speech therapy techniques I learnt as a teenager, has really helped my confidence. Nowadays, presentations, welcome speeches and pitches for new business have progressed from being excruciatingly painful to being incredibly rewarding. I still have bad days but it makes all the difference being in such a supportive environment."
Iain Wilkie, Partner, Ernst & Young |
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"People tend to contact BSA, looking for help, when they are at transition points in their lives. Often it is the change from education into work, or looking for new employment. Applying for a job, calling for information, attending interviews - all this can be daunting if talking is difficult. And yet, people who stammer often have a special awareness for what makes good communication which is a great asset to any workplace."
Norbert Lieckfeldt, Chief Executive, BSA
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Weak-minded? Born nervous and shy? Still suffering from the effects of some childhood trauma? Surely you could stop stammering simply by taking a deep breath?!
All the above commonly-held beliefs need to be challenged and changed. Since the release of The King's Speech, awareness of stammering has increased but, unfortunately, the level of understanding is still very low. So we need to keep the 720,000 children and adults in the UK who stammer in the spotlight and give ourselves a better chance of being listened to.
The need for change
Stammerers may not be ideally equipped to stand up and change things, but we need to make a start, difficult though this may be. The unacceptable alternative is to do nothing. As the national association for all whose lives are affected by stammering, the BSA will lead this initiative.
The aim is not to build awareness or membership of the BSA, but to increase awareness and understanding of stammering itself. So every person, and every organisation in the UK who lives with stammering, personally or professionally, should feel that this campaign is for them.
The plan
We will work with a media agency to:
 educate the media about why and how stammering affects so many lives
seek opportunities for people who stammer to speak out
The immediate aim is to raise £100,000 - the budget for Year One - but we will need to run the campaign for several years to have a real effect.
It takes courage
Every day, in a 21st Century where communication is everything, everyone who stammers has to find the courage shown by George VI - whether it is navigating that all-important job interview, phoning an important client or giving a work presentation to a room full of colleagues.
Huge steps have been taken to improve the lives and employment prospects of many with disabilities, such as the estimated 750,000 wheelchair users in the UK. Yet a difficulty in talking is at least as life changing as a difficulty in walking, and arguably even more so, because we are increasingly judged and defined by how we talk.
The young face the highest hurdles
While many disabilities (sight, hearing and mobility, for example) are often age-related, stammering is not. Therefore, all those massive hurdles, which often decide how life will turn out, need to be faced head-on by young people who stammer.
Few people realise that stammering emerges in childhood as a symptom that the brain's neural circuits for speech are not being wired normally. Children who start to stammer are the same as any other child in terms of intelligence or temperament.
And there is still no cure
There is still no universal cure for stammering, although some do find ways to better control their speech. However, Early Intervention (EI) allows the vast majority of those very young children at risk of a lifetime of stammering to regain fluent speech, achieve their true potential and make a full contribution to society and the economy. But, inexcusably, NHS speech therapy services are inadequate in many parts of the country and non-existent in some.
Don't forget that the campaign will not only help to change the attitudes of people in the street, but will also encourage specialists, such as healthcare and education professionals, to give stammering a higher priority.
Make a donation to the appeal for change
Your donation can help us fund a media campaign designed to change the many misconceptions which people have about stammering and stammerers. There are three ways to contribute:
1. Donate securely via the JustGiving website by clicking the button on the right.
2. Send a cheque, made payable to British Stammering Association, to Change, British Stammering Association, 15 Old Ford Road, London E2 9PJ. If you print off, complete and enclose this Gift Aid Declaration (pdf), we will be able to reclaim tax on your donation.
3. Phone the BSA on 020 8983 1003 with your Visa or MasterCard details.
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