About Me
Name: Derek
Age: 22
D.O.B: 26th May 1988
Current Academic Study: BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing at Bournemouth University
I hope you do find this website informative as I have a stammer myself, I believe everyone should be given the chance to speak out whatever the problem they have and whatever the race they are.
I was inspired by other people who have stammer but also myself to create this website and I hope it can go far. I have got very far to where I am now in terms of my talking and I think others can also go down the road I went down to improve speaking but also boosting confidence. Although stammer is not a thing you can get rid of just in a blink of an eye. It takes time and courage.
What helped me was going onto a Speech and Langauge Course at University of London, which runs during the holidays in the Easter and Summer. It's a 4 day course where other people with stammer all come together and find techniques they can use and also achieve things they would have never been able to do confidently. Most of all it is to have fun.
I have been onto two of these courses in April 2004 and 2006 and had experienced alot. Things I have done during these two courses are taking away alot of courage, confidence and friends. This course allows you to practice situations you find hard with a helper beside you. Going into this course helped me to feel that people in that group are encouraging each other and also installing confidence in one another.
As like any other people who stammer, its not easy to speak out but I have found the confidence to be able to try and make 'stammer' more aware in society and other communities.
You can also make a contribution by helping me to spread the word of this website to others.
My Greatest Achievements
One of my greatest and proudest achievement would be my speech I made at the end of the 2006 intensive speech and language course I went on which was my very last one because of my age. This was my own choice not to take part in the group actvity and instead do a individual piece. This was to be my big step since going to the course in 2004 and also a big step for me in terms of my stammer. it was very nerve racking just standing there with lots of people looking at you but I was glad I had got through it and the positive comments I got was fantastic.
Planning what to say was not an easy job, I could have talked about anything but I wanted to inspire others and tell them my experiences and feelings as a stammerer. I had planned my speech on four pieces of paper, like revision cards. I started off by introducing myself telling them my name, age, how times ive been on the course and what I was going to talk about. Even starting with saying my name was difficult because off my stammer and also the audience infront of me. When I did say my name everything started to fall into place and my talking was more fluent. Next I went onto talking about how I felt before I went to the 2004 course, having not much confidence, not speaking that much and my stammer was worse. Next I explained that I did a group activity in 2004 but explained my reasons for doing a individual piece this time round and I was trying to push myself onto aother level when I felt the time was right and that was then. After that I started to explain the activities we did during the week and goals we had set outselves and how we gone about meeting those goals. I felt I had to mentioned everyone else in the group as they were also fantastic, I saw alot of change in their confidence and how they dealt with their stammer. After I explained I how I felt at the end of the course.
Having done this speech Im hopeing people can use me as an example to show how far you can go despite having a stammer and challenge yourself to more difficult situations rather than trying to avoid them.