Written by Therese
For many years I have had and still have, a hard time accepting my function-variation (I prefer that word over disability/handicap) and I still get feelings of shame for something I can’t help. I have avoided certain situations, people and places in almost my entire life because of fear of other people’s opinions about me and my speech. I have got the fantastic opportunity to participate in stuttering camps in Sweden, two international camps in Italy and I recently came home from a stuttering camp, organized by Erasmus +, in Lemele, the Netherlands (where I spent some of the best days of my life with the most amazing, open-hearted and inspiring people). Especially I’ve gone from feeling alone in the world with my stuttering, to making friends for the rest of my life from all over Europe with the same function-variation as me. In a society where a non-fluent speech is considered something odd, where you are sometimes met with incomprehension and mean comments, it is invaluable to have a number of shoulders to lean on when needed. What I want to get out of this is to embrace functional-variations and that it’s necessary to pay attention to and spread knowledge about functional-variations in the society. Not a single person should feel shame and/or loneliness for something they can’t help. /T-t-t-therese, a proud member of Stamily.
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