The Invisible Challenges of Stuttering
76,538 views |
Ruban Pillai |
TEDxFolkestone
• June 2021
This talk aims to help everyone understand how challenging stuttering can be, both psychologically and emotionally, as these aspects are often overlooked when discussing stuttering. What people don’t see is that the fear of stuttering can dictate almost every decision a person makes.
Stuttering (also known as Stammering) is a neurological speech condition that affects 1% of the world’s population.
A person’s self-esteem, confidence and mental health will slowly deteriorate through years of negative experiences and their entire lives will be shaped around their fear of stuttering in public. Society still sees stuttering as a comical quirk but it is a serious condition that has led to people taking their own lives.
There isn’t a traditional happy ending to this talk but, more importantly, there is a call to action for us all to consider. We need to stop looking at stuttering as something to fix and instead help people who stutter feel safe enough to express themselves regardless of how they sound. This is when the real transformation will begin.