The 2025 CSA Conference in Kingston, Ontario was my second. This annual event is certainly a time for people who stutter, their families and friends to get together, reconnect and celebrate. It was also an opportunity to meet new people who attended the conference for the first time.
It is always inspiring to share experiences, and Saturday’s keynote speaker Ryan Crowley shared his story as a person who stutters and told how he overcame his struggles to become a successful sportswriter, author and speaker. Sunday’s keynote speaker, Luc De Nil, shared his groundbreaking research on Brain science and Stuttering. This fills me with hope that maybe one day, there can be a cure for stuttering. There were so many great workshops that it was difficult to decide which one to attend.
At the conference, I learned a different meaning of “Acceptance”. Previously I understood acceptance to mean being open about our stuttering, which allows us to communicate authentically. In Mary Wood and Tom Scharstein’s workshop, we learned about accepting our listeners. I do admit that one of the challenging things we face as people who stutter is understanding our listener’s responses. We are often filled with fear of disconcerted looks, stares, jokes. But some people may be surprised by our stutter while some do not fully understand what stuttering is. Some people make jokes not understanding how it affects us, but it is their way of trying to connect with others. Some people try to finish our sentences because in their mind they are trying to help. Some people innocently hang up the phone when we take too long to say ´Hello.” I know how frustrating that is, but we should not give up. On the other hand, I believe understanding is a two-way street. In the past, I interrupted someone while they were speaking, not intentionally but the words came out at the wrong time. I had hoped he understood that it was because I stuttered.
The message from Mary and Tom is that accepting our listeners reduces fear that we may have. Sometimes fear prevents us from doing wonderful things.
I had the opportunity to read Mary Wood’s book ´Beyond the Fear of Stuttering´ and one of the ways to this type of acceptance is being able to forgive some of our listeners. Mary says, we should try to look at anyone or anything as an opportunity. An opportunity to be friends, teacher, student, mentor, mentee, teammate. It sounds easier than it is. I am starting to forgive some of my past listeners.
Acceptance is also the courage to have conversations about stuttering. In Lisa Wilder’s workshop, which was Stuttering as Represented in Literature, Media and Philosophy, she showed a video clip from the 1970s tv show Adam-12 of a rookie cop, who had a stutter, having a conversation with more senior cops in his department. One of his colleagues thought that his stutter would make him less of a cop while others saw the best in the young man. Having a discussion like this in the workplace can seem like a difficult proposition, but it can be worthwhile. This gives us a lot of food for thought, a lot to think about, and hopefully inspires us all.
Conferences like this keep me on a learning journey and I look forward to the next CSA Conference in Saint John's, Newfoundland in 2026.
Sam or Samuel Sinanan was born in Trinidad and moved to Canada in 2018. He is a Chemical Engineer by profession. He is a co-leader of the Toronto Regional Support Group and supports the Conference Planning Committee as a volunteer.