Posts Tagged ‘National Stuttering Association’
On Being Open – Episode 257
Posted on: June 17, 2023
Episode 257 features Gabriela Perez, who hails from Guilford, Connecticut. Gabriela just graduated from the University of Chicago with a major in Global Studies and Spanish and Portuguese.
She is going to Brazil for the next year under a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English at a Brazilian university.
Gabriela has a very tight knit family. She has a twin who also stutters and her younger sisters are also twins. Her entire family is attending the upcoming National Stuttering Association conference in July in Fort Lauderdale, FL, which was Gabriela’s first conference.
Listen in as we discuss using social media as a way to advertise stuttering, early and young adult experiences with speech therapy, and how Gabriela really believed that therapy would “cure” her stuttering. She set out to read scientific research articles so she would have a foundational understanding of stuttering.
Gabriela aspires to go to law school and hopes to one day work with victims of human rights violations, perhaps with the UN in a Latin American country.
Look out world. Here comes Gabriela!
Episode 256 features Mide Oyindamola, PharmD, RPH, who hails from Palestine, Texas, by way of South Carolina and Nigeria. Mide works as a hospital pharmacist.
Listen in as we discuss how Mide came to choose pharmacy as her career. We also discuss covert stuttering, and what happened when Mide lost the ability to be covert.
She says it felt like a midlife crisis, even though she was only in her 20’s. Her stuttering frequency and severity increased seemingly overnight, and she also felt like she had “started to stutter for the first time.”
We talk about her positive therapy experience and finding support through the National Stuttering Association. And we wrap up with discussing how being vulnerable invites others to do the same, which helps build relationships.
Listen for how the title of this episode was chosen!
Stuttering Unmasked
Posted on: April 30, 2023
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Every year, National Stuttering Awareness Week is celebrated in the US during the second week of May. Stuttering advocates encourage people who stutter to stutter openly during this week, or advertise that they stutter in an effort to educate others and raise awareness of a still very misunderstood speech difference.
This year, the National Stuttering Association has chosen the theme of “Stuttering Unmasked” in the hopes that people who don’t stutter will better understand what’s behind stuttering and the masks that we who stutter often wear.
Stuttering is so complex. There are so many myths and false assumptions that could be reduced if people who stutter spoke up more and let people see and hear raw, unmasked stuttering.
But there lies the conundrum. Many people who stutter feel so much shame about stuttering that it’s easier to keep the masks on. The “fake fluency” mask, the “shy, introvert” mask, or the “I don’t know the answer” mask.
Stuttering continues to be a difference that people often mock or laugh at, or about, because people just don’t understand it.
I am hoping that people who stutter will feel brave enough during National Stuttering Awareness Week, and hopefully more often, to be open about stuttering. Talking about stuttering lets others see that we are OK with it, and often prompts questions and discussion that promotes better understanding.
I plan to be open about my own stuttering. What about you?
Be On Your Own Team – Episode 255
Posted on: March 29, 2023
Episode 255 features Kathryn Paprocki, who hails from Denver, Colorado. Kathryn is a wife, mom and professional fighter. She and her husband own a gym called DCO MMA & Fitness. She is a boxer and kickboxer, but her ultimate passion and soul lies with MMA.
Kathryn shares that training and fighting helped her manage anxiety and build confidence. Finding out who she was, and what she was capable of, was powerful. She was featured on an episode of the ESPN reality show The Ultimate Fighter last year, and it was important to her to not have her stuttering hidden.
Listen in as we chat about going through painful phases of wanting to stop talking, building coping skills, “L.O.V.E. – Letting Others Voluntarily Evolve” and the joy of finding the National Stuttering Association and attending her first conference.
Our wonderful conversation wraps up with discussing how important it is to have self-compassion.
Episode 254 features Dr. Tracey Wallace, who hails from Brandywine, Maryland. Tracey is an educational audiologist for the Washington, DC public schools. She also works with her husband as an entrepreneur, with an event venue that they are growing.
Tracey spent more than half of her life managing the stress of trying to survive as a covert stutterer. She describes walking into stuttering moments, panicking, and falling apart.
One such moment led to a “rock bottom” experience as an audiologist. That lead to her finding and attending her first NSA chapter meeting (then known as the NSP) and later meeting a SLP who offered a non-traditional form of speech therapy, known as avoidance reduction. Listen as Tracey describes how this changed her life.
We also discuss stuttering and deafness, ASL, the costs of concealment, and “false fluency.”
Thank you Tracey for such a meaningful conversation.
Episode 251 features Emma MacMillan, who hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Emma works at a bank as a relationship manager, working with the mergers and acquisitions team. She enjoys reading, concerts and hanging out with friends.
Emma opens up about working with fast paced attorneys, who slow down to listen to her. She had challenged herself with customer service jobs in high school and college to get more comfortable with stuttering at work, and where she increased her confidence.
We also discuss how persons who stutter are represented in the media, educating others, her experience of being an “outgoing introvert” and how women are unicorns in the stuttering community.
Emma attended her first NSA conference this summer and we spend time talking about her experiences, how it felt meeting others who stutter, and some of the workshops that really made an impact.
Thank you Emma for such an inspiring conversation.
This episode is a milestone for this podcast. We’ve reached Number 250. This brings me so much joy.
Episode 250 features Adriana Flowers, who hails from Springfield, Oregon via Honduras. Adriana is 23 years old and is a grad student studying Public Administration. She hopes to pursue a career in either the nonprofit industry or local government.
Adriana prides herself on being an advocate for people who stutter and the National Stuttering Association. She wants to be a mentor for others who stutter, especially for young girls and teens.
Listen in as we talk about her job during Covid where she called students infected with Covid and may have been contacts. We talked how the benefits of helping her community outweighed the heavy communication load for a person who stutters.
We also discuss supportive workplaces, the need to relearn how to do face-to-face conversations after two+ years of video platforms and wearing a mask.
We also talked about the importance of family understanding stuttering. Adrian’s dad joined her for her first two NSA conferences.
Catch Adriana on the next NSA We Stutter @ Work webinar on customer service jobs, to be held on September 28.
Safe Together – Episode 249
Posted on: August 2, 2022
Episode 249 features return guest Carolina Ayala, who hails from Ajax, ON, Canada. She shares that she’s been working in the disability field now for 20 years and loves it. She has recently transitioned into a new position, where she helps clients engage and be more social in their communities.
In this special episode, we discuss what it’s like to be in a relationship with another person who stutters. Her partner has given us permission to talk about him. 😊
Carolina tells us that she she doesn’t have to explain good or bad days – Sang just “gets it.”
She shared they first met casually at a NSA conference, but she never thought she’d actually talk to him. Sang then reached out to her on Facebook, and something told her to talk to him. At the time, Carolina mentioned that she was getting ready to attend an intensive speech therapy course in Canada. A few days later, Sang told her he bought a plane ticket and was joining her.
I asked Carolina when she knew she wanted to learn more about Sang. She said she knew when she felt so safe with him. She also added that was a cute and very dapper guy. (You are Sang!)
Carolina and Sang have not explored next steps yet, as there’s a whole big world to explore. They both love to travel and have happily exploring that world together.
Listen in to this very insightful and inspiring episode.
Selfie of when Carolina and Sang first met.
My Second Family – Episode 248
Posted on: July 22, 2022
Episode 248 features Lindsey Lambert, who hails from Kansas City, Missouri. Lindsey is in her 30’s and is an R.N. working as an assistant nurse manager on the oncology floor at a VA Hospital.
Lindsey recently attend her first National Stuttering Association conference, which she describes as finding the family you didn’t know you had.
Listen in as we talk about Lindsey’s experiences with avoidance and being covert. She says she practiced a lot of avoidance for a really long time. She was tired of walking through life not being who she was. She is still working on her journey to acceptance.
Lindsey’s conference takeaways include: she found empowerment in getting out of her negative mindset. She discovered overwhelming love and support, and the deep conversations with others who stutter to be so freeing. She challenged herself to maintain eye contact, and she did.
Lindsey wants to heal. I’d say her first conference experience and all the people she met puts her well on the path to that healing.
National Stuttering Association June 29, 2022
Don’t Miss The Moment – Episode 247
Posted on: May 30, 2022
Episode 247 features Steff Lebsack, who hails from Aurora, Colorado. Steff is a wife, sister, mother of two and a SLP. Steff’s brother Jasper stutters, and is the reason Steff wanted to become a SLP and specialize in stuttering.
Steff just started a private practice and also works as a hospital SLP. Further, she teaches the online fluency course at Baylor University.
Steff talks fondly of when she first started working with clients who stutter, she thought she would be putting on her “hero cape” to save people who stutter. She learned that people who stutter don’t need saving, that we have a voice which should be heard no matter how it sounds.
Listen in as we talk about how Steff suffered a brain injury, and as a result she began stuttering at 36. We talk about faking stuttering, or “malingering,” going intentionally silent because of the pain of stuttering, compassion and empathy. And lot’s more.
We wrap about talking about power, and the importance of helping people feel that they matter.
Progress
Posted on: May 22, 2022
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“A turtle only makes progress when it sticks its neck out.”
I love this quote. How do we define progress? Progress in school (think report cards,) progress at work (performance evaluations, or getting a raise,) or just doing something really uncomfortable. Maybe public speaking, performing improv, or giving a toast at a wedding.
All of those things can be challenging for people who stutter. I was always afraid to volunteer at school or work, afraid they would think I wasn’t competent or laugh. I unconsciously thought those things would happen, so I learned to hide my stutter as deeply as possible, without looking like a recluse.
Do you ever look at stuttering as something with which we can make progress? I mean like stuttering more openly, more comfortably, or even taking part in therapy to lessen our stuttering or struggle behavior.
I had such a long experience with covert (hiding) stuttering. I was swimming in shame and the belief that no one would want to hear my voice, or even that I was unworthy of talking, as it was different than “normal” speech.
Progress for me was just letting go and confronting my shame, which took a long time. I began to open up more, took speaking risks I never would have dreamed of, and most importantly, I met other people who stutter, especially other women. Through the community of the National Stuttering Association which offers one day and 4 day conferences, chapter support meetings, and online webinars and groups, I found out that progress means something different for everyone.
Discover what it is you want to do, and go after it, as slowly or quickly that YOU want to. It’s not a race, it’s a journey.
Progress – “A turtle only makes progress when it sticks its neck out.”
What Makes Us Relevant?
Posted on: April 5, 2022
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I haven’t written in a while as I’ve been grappling with big issues. Anxiety and depression, talking less often to people, feeling isolated, fun stuff like that.
But my mind keeps wandering to relevance. I worry that I am not relevant to, well, anyone. I don’t work, and I don’t have regular social interaction, unless you count the “thank you” at the grocery store. I felt relevant and productive when I worked, both with colleagues and clients.
So I’ve been stewing over why I don’t feel relevant. And have been thinking a lot of about with who do we need to be relevant to, in order to feel relevant. Is it engagement with others that makes me/us feel relevant, is it doing something for someone else, or is it just about being relevant to myself?
It’s so easy to let negative self-talk and self loathing consume our thoughts, as I did for so long because of stuttering. I felt like I didn’t measure up, or ever could, to others who did not stutter. Avoidance became a self preserving habit, one that spilled over into other areas of my life. I intentionally chose not to interact with potential friends or many co-workers out of shame and fear of being seen in a negative light. That used to eat me up.
Then I found the stuttering community and dove in and realized instantly that helping others helped me. In little ways: encouraging others, sharing my stories, celebrating triumphs with others who may not even realize what they just did or said was a triumph.
I felt relevant in that world. I took on volunteer opportunities, led groups, presented workshops and generally felt good. I felt I was making a difference. I felt relevant.
But it seems now that everything has changed. I’ve had major life changes that have been difficult. I stepped down from the NSA Board of Directors because I thought my messy life would adversely affect my ability to help others and be a leader. I also worried that financially I could not contribute and of course afford to pay my way to conferences. At times, I feel extremely irrelevant in the stuttering community, which is funny, because it was deep involvement that helped me so much and made me see, really see, that I could help others.
I guess it’s most important to feel relevant to yourself. Find ways to be relevant. I’ve been trying to do that, from afar, on Zoom, like most of us have become so used to. I try to talk to people as often as I can, but honestly, that’s an effort, just like getting out of bed on some days.
But that’s OK. Being messy and unsure is what makes us human. I remind myself of that often. Helping others to realize that being messy, including not taking a shower every day or hardly making the bed, is relevant because I know others can relate to that. We all are messy. And being able to be comfortable with that helps me realize that relevance is a matter of perspective.
Asking For Help
Posted on: December 11, 2021
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It’s been such a rollercoaster year for me, as has 2021 been for everyone. I think we’ve gone through the quickest slowest two years ever.
For me personally, I’ve struggled with physical health and mental health issues and this year, everything has seemed so heightened and intense. It’s hard to live alone and experience a lot of changes. We all know that changes will occur in our lives, but I didn’t see it coming how fast things have happened for me.
I haven’t worked in over two years and have felt the strain and stress of constant worry and panic that I won’t have the means to support myself. My depression sometimes stalls me for days. I don’t sleep well at night so often sleep a lot during the day. I am always tired. Depression does that to you.
Physically, it’s been a lot harder to get around this year, as my neuropathy inflammation flares up much more often and sometimes I can’t even move my legs, as they throb from being so tingly and inflamed. So, I don’t get out much and barely exercise, even though I know it would be so good for me and help me sleep at night.
To say I have been really down is an understatement. I have not been myself. And I am one of those people who has a very hard time asking for help. I think because of stuttering I always tried to overcompensate and be a “people pleaser,” to get people to like me. I didn’t think anyone would like me because of stuttering. Silly now, but that’s what I thought for a long time.
I reached a breaking point a few weeks ago and needed help. Friends called me at the exact time I needed them to and they “talked me down from the ledge.” They probably saved me that night. They offered to help and I accepted it, with some initial shame that has now turned to pure gratitude.
These friends from the stuttering community opened their arms and hearts to embrace me and show me that I am not alone. The strength of the stuttering community lifted me up when I needed it the most. These friends dropped everything to help me and I couldn’t be more grateful.
The mission of the NSA never spoke louder to me. If you stutter, you are not alone.
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Earlier this week, I had a chance to talk with someone I met through a virtual NSA event last year. It’s always invigorating to find out what others are doing to manage their stuttering, especially during these unprecedented times of virtual everything.
He remembered that I had expressed interest in learning about how a particular therapy went that he had considered.
He did the McGuire Program, which is not a therapy program per se, but is a speech management program run by past graduates of the program. I’ve interviewed several people over the years that have participated and many have felt it is beneficial. It’s an intensive four day program, that requires 10-12 hour commitments each day. My friend participated virtually, so it was only three days, but just as intense. He said it was 12-13 hours each day.
He shared why he chose to take the plunge to enroll and what he learned. As I’ve learned from other participants, it’s a technique based on costal breathing, which helps many people deliberately focus on speaking on exhaled breaths. It’s not for everybody, that’s for sure, but my buddy seemed grateful to have tried a different way of managing stuttering.
He said initially he was practicing 2-3 hours daily, but may have lessened up on that now. He also shared how pleased he is knowing he’ll have life time follow up and support from past graduates.
It’s so important to have a support system and a circle who really understands the complexity of stuttering.
I am so glad he reached out and that we took time to connect and talk.
Saying “let’s keep in touch” and then not, robs of us the opportunity to be there for our friends and truly walk the walk that “if you stutter, you are not alone”.
When someone calls or emails, answer the call. It’s important.
Make Room For The Stuttering 
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