Throughout life, it's easy to get caught up in our past, and allow ourselves to be filled with regret and frustration. It's that very regret and frustration that if can weigh us down if we let it. For those of us that stutter, we can often find our stutter to be a constant reminder of what hardships we endured. That is, if we choose to perceive things in that manner.
David Stones is a semi-retired business executive and CEO. He divides his time between Toronto and Stratford, Ontario volunteering in support of the world renowned Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the town's rich cultural heritage. He is also a writer and a person who stutters. He read from his book of poetry, Infinite Sequels, on Tuesday November 19th at the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto.
Where can I buy some self-esteem? How expensive is it? Where and how is it manufactured? These questions may sound absurd but this is how most people tend to treat self-esteem: like it is a scarce resource that must be cultivated and protected with the goal in life to get as much self-esteem as possible.
Dr. Gerald Maguire recently spoke with Peter Reitzes for a Stuttertalk podcast. He is the director of the Kirkup Center for the Medical Treatment of Stuttering. This is the only research centre in the world dedicated exclusively to the field of study of the treatment of stuttering through medicine. He is also the author of Without Hesitation: Speaking to the Silence and the Science of Stuttering.
The Other Side of the Block: The Stutterer’s Spouse. By Julia M. Boberg and Einer Boberg, from Journal of Fluency Disorders 15 (1990), 61-75
The impact of stuttering on adults who stutter and their partners. By Janet M. Beilby, Michelle L Byrnes, Emily L. Meagher, J. Scott Yaruss, from Journal of Fluency Disorders 38(2013) 14-29
In the realm of information about stuttering, many perspectives have been studied, from that of parents of children who stutter to professionals in the field. However, there is scant research exploring the effects of stuttering on the life partner of a person who stutters, and how that relationship is affected.
My name is Garrett and I have a stutter. When I tell people this they are surprised, even shocked. Just six years ago my stutter was very evident, yet today it has mostly subsided to the point where I am now a professional public speaker! It certainly comes back every now and then, but not nearly as frequently or as obviously as it used to. Recently somebody in one of my classes asked me how I got to this point, as he has a daughter who is facing the same challenge that I, and so many others, know all to well – the problem of stuttering.