Organized by:
The Netherlands Association for People Who Stutter
Bio: Michael O Shea lives on the south coast of Ireland. Michael stammered severely for close on forty years, the trigger for his stammer, a severe beating from by a nun in school at the tender age of four.
This traumatic event would in time prove detrimental to his social engagement which would lead to feelings of difference which feed into associated feelings of shame and low self-esteem which drove his stammering system, all of which have been well discussed and documented.
His book “Why I Called My Sister Harry” has helped many, by just reading it people felt the connection to their own personal feelings and experiences not only those who are challenged by stammering.
Title: I Learned My Way Into Stuttering/ I Learned My Way Out of Stuttering.
Abstract: When I was a child I did not write a letter to Santa and ask him for a present of stuttering for Christmas, I did not say to my parents hey Mum, hey Dad, I think I will learn how to stutter, it will I am sure be great fun, it will make me feel different, it will make people hear and see me as different. I spoke fine until I was four, no problem. Aged four, a severe beating by a Nun who used a wooden cane to control her environment was to change my verbal communication for close on forty years. The trigger for my stuttering the severe beating was compounded a few years later by another severe beating for not been able to answer a question in class, the school principle drew back the brass ferruled stick, drew blood from my small hand, I knew immediately that this was the first time that I was physically assaulted by an adult because I stuttered, I knew I had to be very careful because of how I spoke, I would learn how to hold back, I would learn how to avoid pain, not only the physical but the psychological as well. The blueprint for my stuttering behaviour was being woven very early in life, adults were not to be trusted for they could and would cause me great pain, anxiety, stress, and feelings of shame. During the research for my book “Why I Called My Sister Harry” over six hundred people who were challenged by stuttering were interviewed, to my amazement many had very similar experiences to myself, similar feelings, similar perceptions.
Having worked with and supported over one thousand people who are challenged by stuttering it has given me great pleasure to observe people grow and accept their challenge with stuttering. Courageous people who seek help and support when they realise that the pain of stuttering has hurt them enough, courageous people who realise that the pain of stuttering has not only hurt themselves but those who are emotionally close to them as well, courageous people who are becoming free of the mental isolation which for some stuttering brings.
Today we will look at the individual stuttering system, what drives it, what do we need to be aware of, what are the core drivers for your stammering system, I will show and explain what mine were, am I cured as in I don’t stutter any more, of course not, do I have the mentality and mind-set of a stutterer, no I don’t. Am I an expert on stuttering, regarding my own yes of course I am, as you are, as no one knows at any point in time as to how you feel and perceive yourself as a verbal communicator.
