Current news

BSA Scotland held its second Open Day in October 2005, at the Birnam Institute in Perthshire. This highly successful event was attended by approximately 50 participants, including people who stammer of all ages, parents, grandparents, partners, speech and language therapists and teachers. Report on Birnam Open Day...

Our Aberdeen Open Day in April, 2005 was attended by 82 people. The programme included a speech by Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, who unexpectedly revealed that she had stammered as a child. Report on Aberdeen Open Day...

BSA Scotland Committee

The new elected BSA Scottish Steering Committee met for the first time on 24th September 2005, at our new premises in central Edinburgh. At this meeting John Mann was elected Convenor and Sandra Stewart, Deputy Convenor. Thanks were expressed to Frank Geoghegan-Quinn who was commended on his performance as inaugural Convenor (tribute to Frank). More on BSA Scotland Committee...

Telephone support group

BSA Scotland has launched a telephone support group in Scotland for people who stammer. This is a 'meeting' by telephone that takes place once a month. Up to eight people will be able to 'phone in at the arranged time, and everyone can hear, and be heard by, everyone else. More on telephone support group...

Scottish Yahoo group for online support

Two BSA Scotland members, based in Glasgow, have started up a virtual self-help group online. The group aims to foster greater ties between people who stammer, parents, speech therapists, researchers & friends in Scotland. It seeks to provide a venue for members to support each other effectively and non-invasively, discuss interesting topics related to stammering, and extend support for those who may not have access to a specialist speech therapist or a self-help group nearby - or who may be too busy to seek other forms of support.

You can join the online group at
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/speakingfromtheheart
For child protection reasons, at present only those who are aged 18 plus are allowed to participate in the group. Other online groups are listed under Internet discussion forums.

Our new office

BSA Scotland took over its new Scottish Branch office on 1 June 2005. The new office in central Edinburgh, was formerly a bric a brac shop and seriously in need of refurbishment and some 'tlc'. The office has now been redecorated with help from volunteers - profound thanks to all who have done their bit.

The office represents a significant stage in the progress of BSA Scotland as we now have a publicly identifiable Scottish base, where meetings can take place, members can visit and volunteers can participate. It also sends out a very important message - we are here to stay and stammering can no longer be swept under the carpet in Scotland.

Please do come and visit. More on BSA Scotland office...

Working through the Scottish Parliament

On June 14th 2005 eight people who stammer attended the Scottish Parliament to meet with MSPs from the Equal Opportunities Committee (EOC). This meeting was one of a series designed to gather oral evidence for the EOC's Disability Inquiry 'Removing Barriers: Creating Opportunities' that culminated in a comprehensive report in November 2006. We are delighted that the EOC have been taking the concerns of people who stammer on board as part of this inquiry.

Jan Anderson subequently submitted written evidence, providing background material, research evidence, testimonies received via the web and a summary of themes from the June meeting. Her report, 'Shout it to the top!', formed the basis of a poster delivered at the Oxford Dysfluency Conference in July. The report, and more about the meeting, is available at Equal Opportunities - Visit to Scottish Parliament.

'Communication Impairment Action Plan'

Also in the Scottish Parliament, on 20th January 2005 representatives of BSA Scotland attended a presentation on the wider issue of 'Communication Impairment', spearheaded by a group of speech and language therapy managers and Kim Hartley of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. This group is pushing, in partnership with voluntary organisations such as ourselves, for comprehensive research leading to a 'Communication Impairment Action Plan' for Scotland.

The meeting gained signed support for this initiative from a good number of MSPs of all parties. We can see the advantages of forging links with other communication oriented charities in Scotland, eg, Speakability and Afasic, and look forward to sharing information and promoting the united interests of our members where this may be more effective. Unity is strength!

Current news

Last updated: November, 2006