Stammer or stammering can have a dramatic effect on somebodys confidence.
Fluent people really can not comprehend how hard it is to live your life with a speech impediment or stammer.
I run one to one speech courses in Birmingham and one of my clients
once told me about a situation he was involved in. He and his friends
went to a bar one Saturday afternoon to have a few drinks. After a
couple of pints he went up to the bar to order himself a drink.
Unfortunately he could not speak all of the words fluently and the bar
man accused him of being drunk and refused to serve him. He tried to
explain that he was not drunk but had a stammer but the bar man said
"That's what they all say"
He returned to his friends who asked him where his drink was. He told them what had happened, this itself was very embarressing.
His friends were very supportive and one of them went to the bar and
bought him a drink. Everything was fine until the barman saw him
drinking this drink. He stormed over and asked him to leave the pub
saying:
"I told you that I did not want you drinking anymore alcohol, now get out"
His friends tried to explain to the barman about the stammer and were eventually thrown out of the pub aswell.
This is a typical situation people who have a stammer find themselves in.
Stammering can make progress in a career difficult. Being able to
obtain employment is hard enough, attending an interview with a stammer
is not easy. Many people who have a speech impediment find using a
telephone a choir and most careers need the employee to have good
communication skills.
Other areas of life are also made to be a struggle, for example when I
had a stammer I found it difficult to order things like drinks, form
relationships with the opposite sex, converse with friends and meeting
new people. For whatever reason I also found my stammer to be at its
worst when I was tired.
I am now happy that I have overcome the stammer that had made my life a struggle for eighteen years.
