I recently read an interview featured in ‘InStyle’ magazine with the star of the new blockbuster ‘Girl on the Train’ Emily Blunt. Aside from talking about her new starring role, Blunt shared her story about how she suffered from a stutter as a child. This quickly struck a chord with me, as I too suffered – and still do to a certain extent suffer from a stutter. Blunt’s story resonated with me deeply…the teasing, the struggle to articulate and indeed the fear to really speak at all.
Having a stutter, or a stammer is like living with a hand over your mouth, where there’s so much to say, but there’s a wall pressing against your lips. It’s said that 5% or more of children under the age of five will stammer in their early stages of speech development, and around 1% of adults suffer from a stammer, so myself and Emily Blunt are in pretty exclusive company – which is probably the only thing we have in common.
]Blunt it absolutely spot on when she describes her experiences, as she explains “when I’m tired or I feel put on the spot, I still sometimes struggle to get the words out.” It’s that moment when someone is expecting an answer from you, they’re literally waiting for you to say something and some of the time, your brain says yes and your mouth decides to have a minute off. Along with this, there’s the sweaty palms that come along with the anticipation of having to speak, and the shaky, on the verge of tears tone that follows when you finally get your words out.
Now I’m not saying my stammer stops me from living my life, because it doesn’t – in fact I’m pretty proud to say that in spite of it I’ve made presentations in front of class mates, sat through job interviews, taught a class of 25 children, and even made a speech in front of 300 people. However, before every instance your stammer is always there, and you know it’s going to make an unwelcome appearance whether you like it or not. I guess what I’m trying to get across here is that a speech impediment doesn’t have to slow you down, and it certainly doesn’t mean you have to shy away from a conversation, an activity or even a career you want to enter. Your voice is there, even if it takes a little longer to make an appearance!
On a personal level, to many non-stutter sufferers (I probably wouldn’t be able to say that out loud without a number of pauses before the ‘n’ and about 10 attempts as both ‘s’ sounds lol), a speech impediment probably seems like a pretty trivial thing, and as much as I can laugh it off publically, It probably affects me more than I care to admit. From a child, there would always be the odd mimic of my stutter and odd snigger when it was my turn to read out in class. As I’ve grown older, as cliché as it sounds, I’ve learnt to embrace my stammer and have accepted that it’s just something that makes me standout from other people. I glide past peoples mimics or giggles, and sometimes even give them that look of ‘Yes I just said the word ‘the’ 10 times, I have a stammer – and?’
I was so happy to read Emily Blunt’s piece in ‘InStyle’ because I didn’t realise stutters among celebrities were as common. I learnt that there was in fact a British Stammering Association and an American Institute for Stuttering where Vice President Joe Biden, Bruce Willis and Samuel. L. Jackson were all honourees.
I’m proud of my stutter, and reading more into stuttering and those affected it’s cemented it in my mind that it’s never going to hold me back. I’m in great company: Blunt, Biden, Willis, Jackson and King George VI (and let’s face it he did alright didn’t he!). If you suffer from a stutter and get scared about answering a question, or reading out loud, or someone makes a comment please remember that your inability to get your words out sometimes does not define what you know, or what you have to contribute to the world. Your mind is probably full of amazing stories, ideas and innovations and you should let them shine!
If you want to know more, or want to get some help in restoring your speech, visit the British Stammering Association’s website.
This article references:
http://www.instyle.com/celebrity/girl-train-star-emily-blunt-november-cover-girl
Images:
http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/celebrity-personality-types/72169-emily-blunt.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dtr7q
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/8223897/The-Kings-Speech-the-real-story.html
http://richestcelebrities.org/richest-actors/bruce-willis-net-worth/