Answers for The Media

Like any group associated with the treatment and support of people with some level of disability, support groups for people who stutter and those who treat them are always very thankful for any public awareness message about stuttering that is forthcoming.

Stuttering v's Stammering

While some might argue that there is a difference between stuttering and stammering, and there may very well have been in the past, for all intents and purposes these day, they refer to the same speech phenomenon. We tend to find that the term stuttering is used in countries like USA, Canada and Australia while the term stammering is tends to be used in England and other parts of the UK.

Why is public awareness about stuttering so important

It is a generally accepted statistic that about 1% of the population stutter. Stuttering is not peculiar to and country, race, skin colour or religion. so there are many people in every country of the world who are interested in finding out about various aspect of stuttering. Stuttering can manifest in individuals in many different ways and with varying levels of severity both physically and psychologically.

While the physical symptoms of stuttering can be very obvious if one is to hear a person with a severe stutter there is a large percentage of people who have what appears to be a very mild stutter yet they can be as concerned about it almost as much as the person with a severe stutter. Some individuals have what has come to be referred to as a "covert" stutter where they can live with stuttering but very rarely demonstrate the symptoms that have come to be know as stuttering. This is because these individuals are able to change words or avoid words or avoid situations that they believe will evoke stuttering. Individuals with this form of "mostly hidden" stuttering can be just as concerned about the possibility of stuttering as those who stutter "overtly" or openly.

It is important for the media to understand the "dimensions" of stuttering so that they can impartially educate the public in such a way that all forms of stuttering are understood as many people who suffer from a form of stuttering tend to know little about it themselves and feel isolated in their personal struggle with this form of speech dysfluency and the psychological that can surround it.

If you have any questions you would like answered or have any suggestions of what should be covered in this section, please email info@stuttering-answers.com