Madam, – As a PWS (person who stammers) who grew up in Ireland, I thought Fintan O’Toole’s brilliant piece “I would be a very different person without my stammer” (Weekend Review, January 15th) was totally accurate. I could relate to everything he said.
I would like to make the point that while the movie The King's Speechis considered "history", for me even the 1980s were "the dark ages" in terms of my stammering. There were no support groups and the speech therapy I received was well-intentioned, but did not help. I felt isolated, and people viewed stammerers as being unintelligent to say the least.
I am heartened to know that young people in Ireland have a great organisation like the Irish Stammering Association (www.stammeringireland.ie) as a support group and a means of advocacy for stammering rights. I also recommend the website of The Stuttering Foundation (www.stammeringhelp.org) because it is a treasure chest of helpful information and free resources such as streaming videos, downloadable brochures and more.
The website of the Stuttering Foundation, a non-profit charitable organisation, also has a list of famous stammerers that includes King George VI, Bruce Willis, Marilyn Monroe, James Earl Jones and Emily Blunt. I wish that during my youth in Ireland. I had known about famous stammerers because I always felt alone. I certainly could have benefited from having a role model. – Yours, etc,