Stuttering is Cool

Episode #180: Stuttering is my super power. Yeah, I know, what a strange thing to say but hear me out. On this episode, I share how growing up stuttering, dealing with it, facing my speaking fears head-on built up an inner strength in myself as well as other qualities that make me think about the stuff that the typical comic book superheroes are made of. Particularly, Bat Man. How cool is that? We’re like Bat Man! In other words, suffering and dealing with adversity builds character. Without it, I don’t think we would be very interesting people. Share your thoughts in the comments below. What good qualities has stuttering brought you? I also talk about the graphic novel I’m currently working on and the live streamed sneak preview I broadcasted on Periscope. Feel free to share your feedback in the comments on the video, comments below, or by email. The video is available on YouTube which you can see below. The post Stuttering is my super power appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Episode #179: Breaking Our Silence is a documentary about stuttering that is currently being crowdfunded. Producer, Adam Norman, who stutters himself, is planning on travelling across Eastern Canada to “spread awareness, share experiences and bring to light the effects of bullying”. They want to interview stuttering groups, speech language pathologists, everyday people on the street, and even John Dunsworth of Trailer Park Boys fame. Links mentioned on this episode: Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign page Breaking Our Silence website Breaking Our Silence Facebook fan page Stanley Cola Productions Facebook fan page Stanley Cola Twitter account The post Breaking Our Silence appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Episode #178: “Resilience is the virtue that enables people to move through hardship and become better”, writes Eric Greitens in his new book, Resilience. A Navy SEAL, Rhodes Scholar, boxing champ, and humanitarian, Eric shares letters he wrote to his friend who was going through a tremendous amount of hardship. Eric’s hope is that we can learn from his letters as well. In a nutshell, we all benefit from suffering and life’s challenges and can learn a tremendous amount from the ancients who wrote on the topic after living through hardships. On this episode, I talk about how I am enjoying Eric’s book very much (I’m only on chapter two as I type this and I can already see myself re-reading it over and over) and share some of my experiences with dealing with hardships and becoming a better, stronger, and wiser person. I also talk about my latest new passion in reading up on the benefits of failure. It is my belief that dealing with stuttering isn’t just about speech therapy, it’s about dealing with the various challenges brought on by a speech impairment head on and overcoming them. Another great quote from the book is “…human beings can turn hardship into wisdom because we are born with the capacity for resilience, and we can make ourselves more resilient through practice”. Keep regular practice out of those comfort zones! Links mentioned on today’s episode: Eric Greitens interviewed on the Art of Manliness podcast Blinkist.com Books mentioned on this episode: Resilience Pour Your Heat Into It by Howard Schultz and Dori Jones The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor The Up Side of Down by Megan McArdle Fail Fast, Fail Often by Ryan Babineaux and John Krumboltz Photo credit: deeplifequotes The post Resilience appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Episode 177: I chat with my friend, singer and actor, Marc Winski, about his cool new gig on the Disney cruise line and how warm and welcoming people who stutter are wherever his travels take him. We also chat about an unnerving yet delightful experience I’ve recently had during one of my improv classes as well as stuttering a burger order without my usual disclosure. The post Stuttering makes great friends appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Episode #176: “I had to live my life in English but I only had one word to say one thing so I couldn’t change my words”. I speak with Geneviève Lamoureux who had no choice but to stutter openly when she went to a school where the language of learning was not in her mother tongue. I found out how she coped and thrived. The post Stumbling upon stuttering openly appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Used with permission by Simon Walsh. Click on the collage to see in full on diaryofastutterer.com. Episode 175: #ChallengeYourself is a motivational project created by Dublin-based Simon Walsh of the award winning diaryofastutterer.com. The premise is simple, write down a speaking challenge for yourself, take a photo, share it on social media, and hashtag it #challengeyourself. Simon then takes a bunch of the photos and creates a collage which he posts on his blog and shares on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. “I wanted to create a board of inspirational messages that could be used to show others how people are challenging their stutter every day in many different ways.”, share Simon on a blog post about the stuttering challenge. “What has happened since has shown me that the stuttering community around the world are far more inspiring than I had ever imagined.” On this episode, I speak with Simon about the challenge, his favourite submissions, and podcasting! Celtic Dawn by State of Flux is the music used in this episode along with my usual theme song. Celtic Dawn is released under creative commons 3.0. The post Challenge Yourself appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Episode 174: Would you record and post a video of yourself stuttering? It may sound scary at first but what if you saw many others who stutter doing it? That’s exactly what happened in Stuttering Community, a group on Facebook where for the past little while, members have been posting videos introducing themselves and stuttering openly. Some for the very first time in their lives. It all started when Evan Livermore, a new member of the group, decided to post a video introducing himself instead of writing text. He added a little challenge at the end of his video for everyone in the group to do the same as way to get out of their comfort zones. Little did Evan know that his challenge would end up becoming a full blown viral meme within the group! Facebook also took notice and asked to feature one of the videos on their Facebook Stories site! I chat with Evan on this episode about this phenomenon and what he plans to do next. I also play the audio of 9 of my friends who posted videos and gave me permission to do so. Links mentioned on this episode: Stuttering Community Facebook page Stutter Social Facebook Stories‘ feature of one of the videos my book (well, it wasn’t really mentioned but I’m mentioning it here)   The post Record and post a video of yourself stuttering appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Episode #169: I’m back from my 5th consecutive time attending the National Stuttering Association conference which was also a big epiphany in the role mentorship plays in our lives. I share my reflections on this and my book being sold out at the event! You will also hear from fellow attendees who answer the question, “Is stuttering cool?“. I was also invited to give a cartooning workshop for the kids where we drew comics about stuttering. While I’m seasoned in mentoring adult stutterers, this was my first time witnessing some mentoring of kids. And I ended up learning from them! Who’s mentoring who? The kids, the keynotes and the monuments around Washington, DC where the conference was held this year, gave me a lot to think about so I wrote a thoughtful blog post about my reflections on the role of mentorship. It’s important for both the persons being and doing the mentoring. I deduce that it is also one of the components to effectively living with stuttering. On both this episode and the blog post, I talk a bit about how I became a better man over the past five years from having learned from the amazing friends I’ve made at the National Stuttering Association’s conferences.Read my post, The mutual benefits of mentoring, and please do chime in with your thoughts. Remember, you are always encouraged to send in audio feedback at [email protected] or by leaving a voicemail by clicking on the right hand side of this website.Links mentioned on this episode: Video episode Parker Mantell Indiana University commencement speech Rohan Murphy Jody Fuller The post Stuttering and mentorship appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Episode #147: The job search episode! Finding employment is one of life’s big challenges and adding a stutter into the mix doesn’t make things any easier. Many people who stutter are concerned about not finding fulfilling work because of their speech impediment. In fact, some don’t bother to pursue their dreams believing they will never, ever be hired. In reality, employers don’t care about stuttering and even fluent people have a hard time finding work. On this episode, I share my job search tips for the 21st century stutterer. It may not be easy to accept your stuttering and you may be tempted to hide your stuttering but that’s your business and I can’t tell you what to do. But if you do give acceptance a try, then read (and listen) on. Among the plethora of tips that I share, I think the the most important one is to accept your stuttering and the social punishment that comes along with it. Nothing in life comes easy. Especially a job. So work on showing confidence and focus on the fact that any employer who won’t hire you based upon your speech can’t be a good employer to work with. Imagine how bad that employer must be if he or she can’t see past your speech. That is one employer who doesn’t see the value in his or her employees’ skills, experience and strengths. Music used on today’s episode: Playing Around by Hamadi The post Finding a job when you stutter appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Episode #128: The new year is the perfect time to start overcoming your fears! I speak with Julien Smith, author of the free ebook about overcoming fear, The Flinch. Then I speak with Vivek Singh and Elaine Wigdor Robin about their experiences attending India’s first stuttering conference. Despite what The King’s Speech may have inadvertently implied, stuttering is not caused by weak character or bad parenting. It’s biological and genetic in origin. Despite that, stuttering is still the butt of jokes and stutterers still receive negative feedback from others. In some countries like India, stuttering is taboo. Women stutters have trouble finding husbands. Organizing a national conference about stuttering is certainly an act of courage. Well done, ISA! As Vivek described it on this episode perfectly well, attending a stuttering conference made him feel like Stutter Bond with a license to stutter. If you stutter, you’re not alone. Music used on this episode: Oslodum 2004 – DJ Dolores Pepito by KarmaHackeR Vivek’s presentation at the conference If you stutter, you’re not alone Some fun at the ISA conference So how was the conference? The future of ISA – part 1 The future of ISA – part 2 The post Reaping the rewards of overcoming fear appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Episode #124: The Indian Stammering Association will be hosting it’s first stuttering conference from December 28th to January 1st. What a great way to start of the new year! In this episode, I speak with co-organizer, Satyendra “Sachin” Srivastava, about the conference and the taboo of stuttering in India. Links mentioned on this episode: Indian Stammering Association website and blog And now a message from Hiten Vyas! The post Stuttering conference in India appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Episode #99 You’re making a telephone call, the person on the other lines picks up and says ‘hello’ and you’re stuck in a block. What can you do before the person hangs up thinking nobody is on the line? On this episode, I speak with preschool teacher and fellow stutterer, Sarah Bryant, about her techniques when making these type of telephone calls. The post Conquering the telephone appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

Episode #90 Today’s episode is a long one! It’s an audio collage presenting highlights of my experiences at the NSA Conference in July 2010. My very first time attending! Join me and two of my fellow stuttering friends, Rebecca (also her first) and Carolina (her 4th, not her 3rd as mentioned in the episode) and as we bus it to Cleveland, Ohio to attend this awesome event. Find out about stuttering at customs, hear from some of our new friends, SLP students voluntarily stuttering, what I shared at the open mike, stuttering etiquette, the creation of the Stuttertini and much more! My photos of the NSA Conference I Heart My Stutterer t-shirt Pam‘s Ti-Ger tattoo (who is Ti-Ger?) Four Friends website Dr-Nina-G.com National Stuttering Association Facebook fan page Stuttering Experts Gather In Cleveland (from WCPN) Video by @jeanfinstad We’re Not Afraid’ practice for closing ceremony 2010 NSA Closing Ceremony Video P.S. I am forever grateful to the NSA Conference organizers, volunteers, stuttering community and the super amazing staff at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel (who gave us the time we needed to stutter out our words without rushing us or finishing our sentences) for putting on such an AWESOME time! The post The NSA Conference 2010 episode appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.

#66 Today’s episode is the first of a series of mini-documentaries I plan on producing to show what it feels like to stutter. This first installment talks about the embarrassment of stuttering on our names. We hear from @bibiubrasil, @ridwan326, @stirpicus, @webby49 and @dima7b (thanks guys!). Music by Podington Bear (Hook Line & Sinker, The Squeaky Song, Robin’s Egg Blue, Drama Queen, Metal Finch, Invisible Is Not Invincible – please check his website for copyright  information). stutteringiscool.com Released under creative commons license Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 for more information. The post Documentary: Stuttering Our Names appeared first on Stuttering is Cool.