October 22 annually marks International Stammering/Stuttering Awareness Day to raise global awareness about stammering, also known as stuttering, and to garner support for individuals living with the condition.
Stuttering is a speech disorder involving frequent problems with normal fluency and flow of speech, which is common among children as they learn to speak. The majority of children naturally outgrow this type of stuttering, referred by experts as developmental stuttering.
However, in many cases, stuttering becomes a long-term condition which continues into one’s adulthood.
The International Stammering/Stuttering Awareness Day seeks to destigmatise stammering, and to raise awareness on the multiple challenges faced by people who stammer, while encouraging empathy from society.
In South Africa, IOL spoke to founder of the “I Stutter Foundation”, Tumi Modibedi who is at the forefront of raising awareness on the common speech disorder – which is causing untold suffering to many.
Modibedi narrated the numerous challenges he has personally faced as a person who stammers, and the problems faced by millions of people across Africa and the world, including being ridiculed or being seen as dumb by society.
“People who stutter lose out on opportunities in life because of the condition they live with. What actually inspired me to start this foundation was my own experience. I lost out on the opportunity to be involved in the media, in broadcasting, due to stuttering,” Modibedi recounted.
“I had to let go of the opportunities. I personally heard stories from friends and colleagues who are in the arts industry where they were sidelined because of their speech. They cannot articulate themselves according to the script.
Medical journals suggest that stuttering can contribute to mental health conditions, as stammering can cause feelings of frustration, embarrassment or shame. Conditions like anxiety or depression often set in on people who stutter.
Even though there is no definitive answer to what causes stuttering, medical experts suggest that certain factors contribute significantly to it. The factors include family history, genetics where DNA mutations are said to contribute to stuttering, brain structure difference – where people who stutter are more likely to have differences in certain brain areas.
Modibedi said he also had to drop out as a law student.
“As you know, in that industry one is required to speak a lot. I was already having challenges in class if I have to ask a question or if I have to say something. I was already overwhelmed, so you can imagine if I had gone through with it – how would I be able to do in this in court? How would I overcome this, day in and day out if this was my full-time job?” he said.
His advice to families or people who interact with people who stammer, Modibedi insists that the stammering person must be given time to collect themselves and express their train of thought.
“If you finish what I wanted to say, it is like you are taking away my right to express myself. It is not all the time where the people who choose to finish sentences for a person who stammers, end up saying exactly what the stammering person wanted to say, or the way they wanted to say it. It feels like disrespect and the stammering person feels that they are not seen, cannot be heard and cannot say what they want to say,” he said.
“We plead with teachers, family members and all in society to give people who stammer an ear. Hear them of what they have to say, and that is all. Do not finish their sentences. They know what they want to say, but they just need a bit of more time to say it.”
A career and guidance expo was scheduled for Kroonstad, in Free State province on Saturday where “successful” people and professionals in different sectors, who have lived with the condition, would interact and inspire young people battling stammering.
“The expo comes on the back of other awareness campaigns where we would walk in different towns around the Free State, just to spread the message and raise awareness.
“As we interact with different people, and the learners who stutter, we get questions from people who fear how they would survive university, and would they be able to study their career course, of if they can be able to work as doctors, pilots, actors or presenter,” he said.
According to Psychology Today website, around 70 million people worldwide stutter, representing one percent of the global population.
IOL