Is it a Disability?

I suppose some would say that it is. It does prevent me from doing certain things that regular folks can do without really thinking about it: talking on the phone...ordering fast food comfortably...being a stand-up comic. 

Okay, forget the last one, but it was a dream of mine at one time. Not saying I necessarily have the talent for it, but, even if I did, I wouldn't be able to pursue it. I have had a few people say, "Yeah, you could. Just be a stuttering comedian." That might work...if I was interested in making stuttering jokes the center of my life. I do not.

Comedians I admire the most are those who are eloquent and who can deliver a comedic punch line right on time. Comedians like George Carlin, Ellen Degeneres, Steven Wright, Bill Maher. None of them would be able to perform their comedy if they had a persistent developmental stutter.

In my current profession, I counsel teenagers and regularly lead group psychoeducational groups and do one-on-one sessions with teens who have faced trauma. Stuttering does not hinder me in this profession because I can either use tricks to avoid blocks or I can just advertise that I stutter and usually this remedies any stress or problem stuttering might have caused otherwise.

However, I would've liked to have gone on to become a licensed clinician or therapist. Where I work, the therapists and clinicians all regularly hold family sessions with the teenagers who are in the hospital over the telephone. It's part of their job. I would not be able to perform this function...at least not with any degree of fluency...and such dysfluency would surely be a terrible distraction for the troubled teens and their ailing families looking to me for direction or answers. Just calling from the hospital to the family's home, introducing myself and getting the session started is...terrifying to even consider.

I still intend to go back to school this year to get my teaching certification. That's always been a dream of mine and stuttering will not stop me from doing that. Teaching children and standing up in front of groups of people and talking has never been a problem for me...so I suppose teaching is the way to go.

Do I view stuttering as a disability? In some ways. But not to the degree that I would ever expect to be placed on Disability and paid by the State or Government because I can't work. I certainly can. And so do millions of others.

Instead, I see stuttering as more of a personal obstacle. Something that I can overcome, to the extent that I can live with it, not let it hinder my life entirely and not let control me to the point that I avoid doing things that everybody else enjoys doing. My stuttering could never do that to me. I could only do that to myself. 

Advertising My Stutter?

I've recently had an email exchange with a blogger friend who emailed me an article about "coming out" as a stutterer. The conversation was borne from a comment left on my last post "Mean People" and it really struck me as a useful idea. If I am in a stressful situation, like ordering food at a restaurant or calling a business on the telephone...simply letting the other person know that I stutter will take off the edge and will make me less judgmental of myself and more free to simply communicate, knowing that the "cat is out of the bag" so to speak. I like that idea. And I will use it.


Having said, that, I will still continue to use my tricks to avoid blocks and to avoid stuttering. The link that was emailed to me suggests that this is the wrong approach. To wit:


Advertising Stuttering Article



"...some of the most unhappy and bitter stutterers I know are moderate to mild stutterers who believe that they can hide their disfluency. They add a great deal of stress to their lives and put even greater strain on their speech. No one is fooled; not their listener, and not themselves. As a result, every misstep is seen as a risk of exposure and fills the speaker with dread at being found out. They must focus all their energies on continuing the deception and the inevitable mistake is seen as a failure which reinforces their fear of stuttering. Brick by brick, bar by bar, syllable by syllable, they construct their own prison until they permit stuttering to take control of their lives..."


Although there is much truth to what is written above, I will still use my tricks to obtain the appearance of fluency. Why? Because it makes me feel better about my communications and it makes me, ultimately, feel better about myself. A mental health professional would probably tell me that I should work to instead feel better about my "true" self, that is, as a stutterer. But, again, I disagree. My true self is who I am as a person...and stuttering is just one aspect of who I am. It's not my sole identity and it's not something that I use to identify myself, if that makes sense. My identity revolves mostly around my values...not my physical or physiological characteristics. They might tell me that I should be "okay" with having a stutter. I understand that, but it's not so simple. I can accept the fact that I stutter...admit it...not deny it...but I can also work every day to avoid doing it, just as a cripple might try to avoid falling down if he struggles with walking. I just don't embrace this notion of NOT trying to hide the fact that I stutter. Should a cripple NOT try to walk? 


In my professional life and my personal life, I feel good about myself. I don't have an inferiority complex nor do I suffer from low self esteem. My stutter annoys me...that's the primary emotion that stuttering heaps upon me. It doesn't make me feel inferior or less than others or less valuable than others. It annoys me probably much the same way a leg that is 3 inches shorter than the other would annoy me. And if I had that affliction, I would do whatever I could to make both legs appear the same length and I would work hard to participate in activities that others without the affliction participate in and I would make every attempt to look just like they do when I participate.


Do you think my assessment is wrong? Should I stop trying to avoid stuttering by using tricks? If so, please explain why....while addressing what I've already said about why I do it. And, thank you for reading.

Mean People

In the past month, I've had two cashiers at convenience/gas stores mock my stuttering. Both, I am sure, were completely unaware of what they were doing...they likely thought I just stumbled on a word...I would hope they wouldn't have guessed I was a stutterer and thought it would be funny to make fun of me.

Still, even knowing they likely were unaware that I was a stutterer, it still stung a little. It confirms that, if nothing else, sometimes stuttering sounds funny to people. Which is one of the main reasons that I use my tricks to mask stuttering. There are stutterers who don't feel the need to hide it and they freely stutter. Good for them. I've had an email or two from some stutterers who encourage me to do so, saying that it's liberating. I disagree. For me, it would be anything but liberating.

Shifting gears a little here, I've had to change the way I answer the phone on the unit at the hospital, because the greeting that worked perfectly for over a year has suddenly, in the past 3 weeks or so, ceased to work. I was able, for over a years time, to say, "Southwest unit, this is Tony." Now...I answer with, "Hello, southwest." and that works.

On a positive note, I have developed a group for the kids where we talk about certain disabilities and it allows me to talk about my stutter and stuttering in general...to the kids. I have found that the topic really interests the kids and then they feel free to talk about their own hangups, whether it's a physical disability or just some issue they struggle with. Although I know that children can be cruel and judgmental to each other in peer settings, when you sit them down in a group to maturely discuss personal issues, you see that there is much more going on in their heads than childish antics. Sometimes they can surprise you with their wisdom and insight.

Spammers

Unfortunately, due to the many idiots who are spamming my comments with religious drivel and Viagra ads, I am forced to moderate all comments. I sincerely hope this will not discourage honest posters who want to participate in this blog. Your comments are valuable to me and I read them all.

Thank you!!
Tony
"Sign543"

"Stuttering Remedy" Website

Recently, I was contacted via email by a person named "John Richards". At first I thought he was writing as a fan of my blog, but the true intent of his email became clear pretty quickly. He wanted me to visit his website http://www.stutteringremedy.com/ where he is selling his "remedy" for stuttering which costs, you guessed it, $19.99.

He said that he cured his stutter by himself when he was 18 years old. He is now over 60 years old. But, he never thought much of his own cure until, amazingly, a little over a year ago, he "texted" his cure to a 16 year old who magically had his stutter cured in a matter of minutes! Aside from the "stuttering cure" part of all of this...in what context would a 60+ year old man have opportunity to text with a minor? Did he have the permission of this minor's parents to contact him? Doesn't "John" know of the dangers of internet predators?

As you read through the site (which is structured much the same as all the scam-cure websites) it becomes obvious that "John Richards" is educated, not in speech therapy or pathology, but rather in rhetoric, emotion and how to say a whole while really saying nothing at all.

Consider this grandiose portion:

"After years of torment and useless expensive therapeutic treatments, that 16yo cured himself of his chronic stuttering in a matter of minutes by applying my suggestion which comprised one only line of text. In those few minutes his life transformed from a dark abyss to one of usefulness, value and purpose."

Only one line of text transformed the kid's life from a dark abyss to one of usefulness, value and purpose? I suffer from stuttering and it has been difficult on my life in many ways and is certainly a constant source of frustration...but my life is *far* from being useless, without value or having a lack of purpose. On the contrary, my stutter allowed me to succeed *despite* the affliction and that has only added to my life and to the purpose that I feel my life has. If that child's life lacked purpose, usefulness and value, I suggest that stuttering is not his biggest affliction, or that stuttering is even the cause of those problems...and I think...no, I am *certain* one line of text could not have "cured" him.

I've known many stutterers in my life and none have said that stuttering renders their lives devoid of usefulness, value or purpose.

At the end of the website, you are, of course, asked to enter your credit card information and then are invited to read a two-part "hub" article on stuttering. They appear to be "informational" in nature, but he, of course, provides multiple links to his "Stuttering Remedy" website, inviting you to read more of his "elaborations" on stuttering.

Feel free to peruse his website yourself and even email him at stutteringremedy@gmail.com

Stephen King "Under The Dome"

I'm so excited, I just picked up my copy of King's latest masterpiece, "Under The Dome". This is his first big epic novel since...well, since I don't know when. At a whopping 1072 pages, it promises to be epic!

There are over 100 characters to get to know. King may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I've been a fan since I was a young teen, when I borrowed "Pet Sematary" from a friend. I stayed up almost all night that night reading that book. I immediately read everything King had ever written and, to this day, I always keep close tabs on King's website to find out when the next novel is coming out.

Check out the official website for the novel:

Under The Dome by Stephen King

Lucid Dreaming

I've had lucid dreams many times in the past, but this morning I had the most vivid. I was with my brother, living in some big house somewhere and we shared the house with some other people, most of whom were either Hispanic or Asian. I don't know why we were living there, in reality, my brother has a wife and 2 kids. A lot of random things went on in the dream, most of which are unremarkable and ordinary, but at some point when I was laying in bed in the dream, suddenly, I knew I was dreaming. I can't remember what event sparked it.

But, at the moment I realized I was dreaming, I jumped up out of bed and said, "I'm going to explore this place." At that moment, I suddenly had the sensation of being in a simulation-type program...as if I was moving my waking body to navigate the dream world. I was so aware of it, that I stood still, afraid that my focusing on it would make the real world come through. And as I turned my head to look around, the environment would sort of shimmer for a moment and I could barely make out my waking world bedroom. But, just for a second...then my dream environment would come back into focus. I felt like I had some control over this. At some point, I began to doubt that it was, in fact, a dream, so I decided to test the theory and somehow, I forced myself awake, but I was not standing up as I was in the dream...I was still in bed.

The strange thing about lucid dreaming for me is...even though I know I'm dreaming, I'm not at all aware of what my waking world looks like. Except for this latest dream. Weird. Also, almost all of my lucid dreaming occurs after I have awoken in the morning and then decide to go back to sleep. I have my most vivid dreams at those times.

Care to share your lucid dream experiences?

Stuttering Discrimination Question

A reader of this blog emailed me with a legal question, since I did attend law school. I will keep him anonymous since I don't have his permission to cite him, but basically what he asked was, if a bar threw him out because they mistook his stutter for being overly intoxicated, could he sue the bar? Here was my reply, leaving out the greetings and formalities and adding some corrections:

A law suit would likely be unsuccessful for a few reasons. First, most law suits are about damages...money lost. In this case, you lost nothing except your pride. Second, although you could sue based upon an act of discrimination against you, it would likely fail because, when assessing the actions of a person who has "wronged" you, courts mostly use the "reasonable person" standard. Here is how it works:

Courts ask..."Would the reasonable person in the shoes of the other guy have done what he did?" If not, you would likely win the law suit. If yes, the other guy wins.

Here is one argument for the defendant: To a reasonable bartender who deals with intoxicated individuals every day in his job, it's not unreasonable that he might confuse someone with a stutter...with someone who is having a hard time communicating because he is drunk. The two people might look very similar to him and, given his responsibility to stop serving alcohol to someone who is very drunk, it might be reasonable for him to take the chance that you are lying about your stutter...and deny you further service. How would you expect him to know the difference? What if you were lying and he continued to serve you and then you drove your car drunk and killed a child. Could the bartender be liable for failing to cut off your alcohol? Possibly. It's been done before.

So, his actions might be deemed reasonable by a jury, given that, 1) he can't be expected to tell the difference between a drunk man and a stutterer who has been drinking and 2) he has an affirmative duty to the public to act responsibly in his position as a bartender.

That's the argument the bartender's lawyer might make...and it's pretty persuasive.

An argument for the plaintiff might sound like this:

Would the reasonable bartender have simply denied you further service based upon how well you did or didn't speak alone? A prudent bartender would inquire further, perhaps questioning the friends that were with him, to see if the stutterer's claims were valid. Given how society usually treats stutterers, the teasing and taunting they face, and the many comedians who parody them in their acts, and the disdainful manner they are portrayed in films and on television, it's reasonable to assume that this bartender was likely repulsed by the stutter and simply decided to treat him unfairly, and then tried to justify it by saying that the man was too drunk. What other evidence existed that he was too drunk? Did the man stumble about? Was his speech slurred? If not, why was he denied service? This bartender did not act in a prudent fashion because he based his accusations of drunkenness on flimsy evidence and the result is that my client was needlessly ostracized and discriminated against for a disability.

That argument might persuade some, but I think the former argument is stronger.

What do you guys think?

My McDonald's Blunder

So, the other day, I was at McDonald's ordering my daily double-quarter-pounder-with-cheese (no onions)...which I then eat on my way to work. Don't worry, my cholesterol is very low, my metabolism is very high and I weigh somewhere around 150lbs. Anyway, one of my triggers for blocking is...ordering food. I hate to order food almost as much as I hate answering the telephone. At the McDonald's where I stop, they know me very well and they always just automatically place my order when I approach because I order it so often. Bless them.

Not on the day in question.

To my dismay, as I approached, I noticed the cashier was someone I didn't know. Damn. I was going to have to tell her my order. Maybe I'd be fluent. Maybe I wouldn't be.

"Can I help you?"

Okay, breathe. You can do this. "I'd like...a double quarter pounder with cheese, no onions, please and a bottle of water." Yes! I did it!

Except, right after I ordered, she leaned over, one hand cupped to her ear. "I'm sorry, quarter pounder, sir?"

Shit! I almost can never say the same thing twice without stuttering. "Double quarter pounder. No onions. And water." I did it! Again!

But, she leans in once again. "I'm sorry, double quarter pounder and what?"

Okay, I'd had enough. "And a bottle of water! Geez!!"

At that point, she looked up, visibly blanched and said, "Sir, I have a hearing problem."

Well, I felt like a total loser. Not only that, but the people standing around all looked at me like I was pond scum. I was going to apologize and explain why I had become annoyed...but I just froze, paid for the sandwich and prayed it would arrive very fast so I could get the hell out of there. Interestingly, I have been to that same McDonald's like 5 times since and she hasn't been there. I wonder if she quit or something.

All said and done, it was an unfortunate event brought about by the meeting of two people with different communication problems and neither realizing it.

Steven Stanley on YouTube

Leys Geddes (left), Chair of http://www.stammering.org, was good enough to alert me to the fact that Steve Stanley is now advertising his quack "stuttering cure" on YouTube. You'll remember that I've recently been blogging about Steve Stanley's 9-minute "stuttering cure" on this blog...I even purchased the cure for $37.00 so that I could find out what this cure is, since he doesn't reveal what it is in his advertisements. (scroll down to see the post where I explain what I purchased)

Leys wrote to me...

"We've been chasing Steve Stanley for over a year.  We've made six complaints to our Advertising Standards Authority about his entirely unsupported claims, and every single one of them has been upheld.  So what they call adjudications have been issued against Steve Stanley and Google, as his 'affiliate marketer, (i.e. they earn money for every click through from Steve's ads to one of his websites) telling them both to stop using these ads.  With a bit of luck, Google will encourage Steve to stop publicising all these incredible and irresponsible 'cure' claims, because it does not reflect well on them. That's probably why he's saying he may have to close down that site.

Steve has recently migrated to YouTube - enter stutter cure in the search box - where he continues to advertise his, er, cure - but for free, of course.  We are chasing him there too - see http://www.stammering.org/adverts.html   I'm delighted to say that when the International Stuttering Awareness Day online conference opens on October 1st, Judy Kuster will be publicising this campaign."
 
I think we should all be aware of the latest scams that are out there, preying on the desperation of stutterers and stammerers to find a cure. It's the vilest form of deception because they seek to financially profit by exploiting the desperation of stutterers/stammerers like you and me who are desperate to find a cure. I encourage everyone who reads this to visit Steve Stanley's YouTube channel and let him know that we are aware of what he's doing and we are spreading the word to shut down scam artists like him.

Steve Stanley's YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/coryveit33

Stuttering at Work

One of my duties as a counselor is to occasionally tape a recorded report of the shifts' events for the on-coming shift. I say occasionally because it's primarily the nurse's job to perform this function, but often circumstances arise that make this difficult or inconvenient. We record the shift report only on my shift because my shift ends at 11:30pm and the only shift interested in the report would be the next morning's shift...not the overnight shift when the kids are all asleep, although they are free to listen to it.

The day shift gives the shift report in person and there is no reason to record it.

I recorded the shift report three nights this past weekend...Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night. The report is recorded in a closed room, so I was by myself with nobody around to hear me record it, yet, I had much difficulty getting through it while being fluent. Ordinarily when I am speaking alone in a room I am almost completely fluent. But not while recording myself. Why do you think this is?

Could it be that...I realize that my voice is being recorded and that those that hear it will ONLY hear my voice and so there is added pressure to be fluent? I view it much as a phone conversation where the listener has a delayed hearing of my end of the conversation. Since I am most dysfluent while speaking on the phone, it would only make sense that making a recording that is much like having a one-sided phone conversation that I know will be heard later by the listener...would also give me just as much trouble.

Incidentally, I was able to record a fully fluent report all three days by intermittently stopping the recording when I came to a word or phrase that gave me trouble or going back and recording over stuttering events. It took longer because of this, but I was at least happy with the result.

The Millions of Real Heroes!

My friend, Tom Weidig, of The Stuttering Brain Blog has launched his own campaign to honor the millions of stutterers/stammerers around the world who live successful lives each and every day while living with a stutter or stammer. He has done this in response to the American Institute of Stuttering having recently honored two well-known celebrities who overcame stuttering in their youth. Both of these celebrities (Emily Blunt and American Vice President Joe Biden) suffered from a stutter in their youth, but for some reason or other, their stutter disappeared.

Tom's idea is that, why should we honor two former stutterers when we should instead be honoring those of us who live each and every day with the struggles of dysfluency? Aren't the millions of stutterers who live and work and thrive each and every day *despite* having a debilitating speech impediment...better role models? I think so. Check out Tom's post at the link below. He also has started a Facebook Group that you will want to check out.

http://thestutteringbrain.blogspot.com/2009/06/millions-of-real-heroes.html

http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22864043247

**QUACKERY ALERT!!** - "KillYourStutter"

Well, folks, we have another QUACK online who created a website called http://www.killyourstutter.com claiming to have a "100% Guaranteed" cure that can be had in under 10 minutes, and costs...you guessed it...$37!

Doesn't this sound all too familiar? If not, scroll down to read about my experience with Steve Stanley's 9-Minute Guaranteed Stuttering Cure. To sum up Steve's "cure", you simply think of the words you normally stutter on...find a secluded place and scream them out loud over and over and sing them out loud at the top of your lungs (why not from the bottom of your lungs? The bottom of our lungs are usually so neglected, aren't they?) In case you were wondering...this method will do nothing for your stutter/stammer. Sorry, Steve.

"Kill Your Stutter" claims to have cured thousands of stutterers...though, I don't know how since the website has only been in existence for about three months. Of particular interest is that...his stated reason of why we stutter almost exactly mirrors the explanation given by Steve Stanley's site: 

From KillYourStutter: "The reason most people stutter is because they want to get into certain emotional states of mind that cause them to begin stuttering, these emotional states act almost like a trigger.   

From StopStuttering: Here is the single reason why you stutter Is because you want to you get in certain emotional states of mind that cause you to begin stuttering. 

The authors are allegedly different, however. This most recent "cure" is authored by Ari Kreitberg...though the domain is owned by registered by someone by the name of Lal Arjurn who lives in Canada. You can contact him through his personal information which is advertised publicly:

Lal, Arjun   31 Country Estates Drive, Unionville, Ontario L6C1A4, Canada (905) 927-1510 

The simple fact is, these people, these scam artists, these degenerate, money-grubbing dipshits...capitalize on the handicaps of innocent people who are desperate for help. Who wouldn't fork out $37...hell, even $137 for an instant cure for stuttering? I certainly would! But, there is no instant cure for stuttering. There is no guarantee for any cure for stuttering. If there was, we would have heard about it from the leading experts in the field who spend millions of dollars every year on research.

I say we take the advice of a recent commenter, Mark, who suggested that we take these links to these scam sites and post them all over messageboards to warn stutterers/stammerers about them...encourage people to write to these idiots and let them know that we are aware of what they are doing, how we feel about it and let them know that we will spread the word to expose them as the fraudsters they are.

I think there is a good possibility that these two websites are owned by the same guy. What do you think?

This Morning's Frustration....and New Friends!

Well, I've enrolled back in school to get my teaching certificate. Unless you've personally had to apply for Federal financial aid, you have no idea of how rigorous the application process is. I HATE HATE HATE applying for Federal financial aid, the process is an exercise in page after page of meticulous information that you have to obtain from financial records, tax return forms, mostly things you file away and have to dig up. And usually you can't remember where you buried it. Grrr! I'd almost prefer scooping out my eyes! Anyway, it's done and I'm on my way.

The annoying part was...this morning I had to do a phone interview with my enrollment counselor. I swear, she must have been asking herself, "Why is this guy earning a teaching degree? He can't even talk well!" And I didn't! The interview was a full half an hour of stammering, blocks, word swapping, uncomfortable pauses and awkwardness on my part. I thought her questions were insipid, as well.

"Why do you think our intermediary education program is right for you?"

Uh...because it's the only one you offer? what kind of question is that? My answer: Because it fits my career goals. She seemed pleased with it. I wonder what she would have said if I had answered: "I don't, but I couldn't find Bachelor of Arts in Underwater Basket Weaving on your roster. "?

Later in the morning, I was forced into another uncomfortable phone conversation with one of my creditors. I was trying to make payment arrangements for a debt I incurred from a class I took a number of years ago and forgot to pay the balance. I received a bill in the mail and found, to my dismay, that there was no website on which to conduct business like making payments, etc. I conduct almost all of my finances online.

So, I was forced to call their number. I was asked to give my name, SSN, current address, phone number, hat size (just kidding) and answer a bunch of questions about why I was calling. I became annoyed at one point and said, "Look. I don't speak well. I have a stutter. The phone makes it worse. Isn't there a website on which I can do all of this? I hate talking on the phone." She was very sympathetic and proved it by asking me nearly 20 more questions about what exactly I wanted to do, what my email address was, what kind of internet connection did I have and why do fools fall in love (kidding again)...and at least 14 more useless questions.

In the end, I simply took a settlement and paid the entire balance over the phone, thanked her and hung up. *Sigh*

Anyway, good news: I am promoting two new blogs in my sidebar. The first is from a young lady named Jo who was kind enough to write to me. Her blog is cleverly titled, "StammerheadShark" and the link:

http://stammerheadshark.wordpress.com/

I enjoyed (and laughed at) her entry, "When politeness just makes life difficult", chronicling a recent attendance at a wedding:

"They were all such lovely people, eager to mingle and make light conversation, but throughout the day (and consequently more so in the evening as they all got that little/lot bit more drunk!) I found myself being given the wrong answers to enquiries I made.
Take the stammered question “Are you having a good day?”, to which the response was often a confused face and then a delayed, “No, we arrived last night…”.
Now, I’m pretty certain I wasn’t speaking another language but I think if people haven’t got the ear for understanding my stuttery speech they just try to pick up on any word they might recognise and take a wild stab in the dark. I suppose just as we do when conversing with foreigners whose language formation patterns we aren’t familiar with."

Stuttery speech. I love that. I'm pretty sure that's not a real word...but I'm gonna use it! :)

Another blog I am adding is called, "Manpreet Stammers":

http://www.manpreetstammers.blogspot.com/

Manpreet is a graduate student and offers many tips and helps for the stammerer or stutterer. His "Overcoming Fears" entry actually made me nervous as I imagined going through the experience he talks about.

"So today Dr. Sachin took us to a Hospital today and we were made to come out of our comfort zone and face our night mares. At first ,we were made to talk to some patients or their relatives who were sitting in the waiting room. I was really scared at that moment. we were suppose to talk to them and ask them about their purpose of coming here and to also tell them that we are working on our speech.we talked to 6 to 7 people out of them 4 were ladies. I always hesitated to talk to any lady, so I was very much nervous at that time too. But after talking to them I felt that there is nothing like a night mare or what ever you call it. They were really understanding our problem and were very cooperative also."

 Anyway, it's nice to find other fellow stutterers/bloggers out there who share in the experience. Please visit them if you get the chance and learn something new about somebody else in this great big world of ours.  Thanks for reading!!

9 Minute Stuttering Cure Update!!

Okay, so I put some extra money aside...money I use for "stupid" things or for things I really don't need. In this case, I put aside $37 so I could check out Steve Stanley's 9-minute stuttering cure.

http://www.stopstutteringsecrets.com/

They say a fool and his money are soon parted...and I would normally agree, but since I set this money aside for the express purpose of finding out what this cure was...let's just say I invested in some "research" for the benefit of the curious and inquisitive.

First, the video is not 9 minutes as the page might lead you to believe. The video is 11:23 minutes long and the "magic bullet" technique is not revealed until the very end. The first 9 minutes of the video consists of a slide show accompanied by an audio recording. Presumably, it is Steve himself talking.

Some of the slides have glaring grammatical errors, at least one of which is an incomplete sentence and another is a misuse of a contraction. The slides go through Steve's opinion on why people stutter, stating people stutter because of the state of mind they are in. Throughout the video (slide show) he continually refers to the "magic bullet" technique that he will reveal at the end and even encourages you to not dismiss it because of its simplicity. He also says it will work only if you apply it. Duh.

The magic bullet? Here goes: He tells you to pause the recording and then think of certain words you have trouble speaking without stuttering....and then shout and sing those words out loud at the top of your lungs (his words) for a period of time. At one point he says to do it 100 times. He says to get in your car if you need the privacy to perform this action.

That's it!

He then says that you will be surprised at the result and encourages you to write to him to report on your success. In his latest email (I signed up for email updates) he says that his technique currently enjoys at around an 83% success rate. Given the lack of objective research, I have no idea how he can come up with any sort of reliable or even reasonable statistic.

There you have it, folks. I haven't tried the technique yet for myself...but I intend to. I won't try it now because my housemates might think I'm insane if I start shouting words that begin with the letter L out loud, much less if I begin singing them. I will wait until I'm alone in my car.  I'll make an update when I have tried it.

One last word, he says that he learned the technique from Tony Robbins, the self help guru. If this is true, how does he have the legal right to charge people for it? It's not even his idea. Does Tony Robbins know that this man is peddling his idea for profit? Someone might want to tell him.

UPDATED TO ADD:

So, I did a search online to see if I could find anything about Tony Robbins and this "technique" that Steve Stanley is peddling. I couldn't find much, all I really found was this blog:

http://stopstutteringnow.org/

You'll notice that "Robert" (there is even a picture) bought a domain name that is strikingly similar to Steve Stanley's domain name...and he put it on his blog. Another thing you'll notice is that every one of his posts is about Steve Stanley's "stuttering cure" and that every post was made on April 7, 2009.

Hmmm...could this be Steve Stanley posing as an individual who has been cured?

Steve Stanley's "Stuttering Cure" Update!

Apparently, Steve Stanley of "The 9 Minute Stuttering Cure" website is in some legal trouble. I signed up for email alerts from his site and this is the latest I got this morning:

"I don't know how much longer
This Website Is Going To Be Up"

 

Yes, get those spam emails out quick, Steve! Drain as many dollars as you can from we poor, gullible, desperate stutterers!

 

"I'm getting a lot of emails with lawyer threats, and other
bad stuff."

 

I have no idea why! I mean, your "cure" is a scientifically and medically-proven, peer-reviewed method that has a documented track record of success!

Oh, wait. No, it isn't. Not only is your "cure" not medically or scientifically proven....nobody even knows what it is! You keep that a "secret" until the buyer enters his credit card information. If it's such a great method, why keep it a secret? Would you buy some cure for an ailment without knowing what the cure is or how it works and without having any sort of documentation or statistics showing that it actually works so you can be confident spending your money on it?

 

"Most of the therapists and the people who own those

expensive stop stuttering hypnotherapy centers actually hate me.."




Really, Steve? They *hate* you? Or is it rather that they just "hate" that you are scamming money from desperate people who fall prey to your advertisement?

"I'm not doing anything wrong... it's just that when people
suddenly start losing their income when something better
comes a long... they look for a reason outside themselves." 

You don't honestly think that your little website is causing the entire medical/psychology community to lose money, do you?

"Instead of making a better product they try to bring me down."


How can they bring you down...when nobody even knows who you are?  There is no biographical information on your page. No medical/psychological/educational credentials at all. Exactly who are you and what makes you qualified to offer cures for anything?

"I'm going to fight this to the end because I believe in my
course 100%... and back it up 100% as well."

You believe in it? That's great! But, if you are expecting people who stutter to simply take your "word" for it and then pay you without any information at all about what it does or how effective it is...perhaps you aren't as smart as you think you are.

Rufus Wainwright Show

A few weeks ago, I was able to see Rufus Wainwright in concert. If you're not familiar with him, I suggest looking him up on Youtube. I didn't get a picture with him, but I did get one with Lucy Wainwright, his sister. She opened for Rufus and she was fantastic. I bought both of her cd's...which she was good enough to sign for me.


-- Posted from my iPhone

iPhone Test

This entry is just a test to see if I'm able to blog from my iPhone. I am using an application called BlogPress...if interested, you can find it in iTunes. It says that you can write entries using WYSIWYG, but I'm not seeing that. I guess I should play around with the settings before I render a verdict.

The best thing thus far is landscape typing. Even with just my thumbs, I'm able to type pretty fast with virtually no mistakes. So far, I give this app 5/5 stars. More soon! Happy Sunday!


-- Posted from my iPhone

"I Used To Stutter"...cured? Not so fast.

I came across a man on YouTube whose channel name is "Iusedtostutter" or, in plain terms, "I Used To Stutter". His name is Rechaud and you'll find his YouTube channel here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/IUsedToStutter

He has uploaded six videos and they are all about his method of over-coming stuttering by speaking "From the heart". From what I have gathered, he is a former student of Tony Robbins, the self-help guru who has empowered millions of people through his motivational speaking venues, many books and tapes. There is no doubt that Tony Robbins has helped many people and there is no doubting that many of his methods of self-help are real and work. Often, what holds us back is our own fears and our own psychological mindset. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. And perhaps there is some truth to the notion that part of our stuttering is caused by a psychological loop of failure that continually leads to even more dysfluency.

What bothers me about Rechaud's videos is that he says that we "choose" to stutter. He says that it fulfills some need in our life that makes us reliant or addicted to stuttering. These are emotionally appealing statements, but they are not based on any real scientific proof or medical research. I am also bothered by the fact that he claims he has found the cure for stuttering. Here is why:

One of the first things I notice about Rechaud is that, despite his claims, he clearly still stutters. I don't point this out to say, "Haha, look, you still stutter, so you're lying!" I point it out to show that he is clearly applying a positive-affirmation sort of technique that, by virtue of just saying he used to stutter, somehow it will manifest through confidence and sheer will power. Rechaud's stutter is minimal. I will give him that. But, listen to the very affected way he speaks. He calls that, "speaking from the heart", but, really, it's just a form of distraction. The same thing manifests in many stutterers when they speak with a foreign accent, or when they pretend they are John Wayne or when they act from a script.

It's actually a well known form of speech therapy. When some stutterers speak in a very affected voice, their stutter virtually disappears. The problem with this form of speech therapy is that, instead of focusing more on the words you are speaking, you are focused more on HOW you are speaking the words. And it works as long as you keep up the affected voice. What inevitably happens, though, is that eventually, you are unable to keep up the affected voice for too long. It becomes tiring and wearisome, not only for the stutterer, but also to the listener, as well. Imagine trying to use that affected, "Tony Robbins" preachy voice when you are at Starbucks sitting across from your best friend. The method works well when you are trying to motivate someone through a motivational speech. It will work well when you are preaching some religion. It will work well when you are speaking about something emotional. But, if you sit down and use it to tell someone how to change a spark plug, you would sound like an idiot.

And don't forget the most important thing about this method: it simply doesn't work for every stutterer. As is the case with all therapies and methods.

For proof of my observations about Rechaud, go watch his latest video where he is standing in his kitchen talking about his method. You'll notice he is in full form, preaching about his cure in a very loud, affected voice, replete with hand gestures and very enunciated, emotionally punctuated words placed carefully throughout his speech. He sounds like a motivational speaker. Even still, if you are a seasoned stutterer, you'll pick up on the hesitations, the carefully chosen words...two big signs that he is avoiding blocking situations. I use this same method when I do public speaking, groups with my kids at the hospital and even when I counsel one-on-one with a kid. It's being in "On" mode and it does work. The problem is, you can't do it all the time.

Next, watch one of his videos where he is casually sitting in his living room, talking about the same cure, but the affected voice is gone and he is just having a conversation. The blocks are more frequent and at one point, he excuses himself for what is clearly a block and then reprimands himself for doing so.

Let me be clear: I am not making this post to impugn Rechaud or anyone's endeavor to "speak from the heart" in order to become fluent. I am posting this to reveal exactly what we are talking about here. It's not a cure...it's a method that will give some people more confidence and it's a method that will work sometimes with some people, but as we can clearly see with Rechaud, it doesn't even work all of the time with people who undertake it. If it helps to build your confidence, then I applaud your endeavor. If it makes you feel ashamed because you believe him when he tells you that you still "choose to stutter", then I say shame on Rechaud. The method simply will not work for everybody.

If it were a "cure" as Rechaud is saying, the method wouldn't even be necessary after awhile. When I got my polio vaccine as a child, there was nothing else I had to do to avoid being infected by the dread disease. It was a done deal with the vaccine. The fact that Rechaud has to apply his method every day in his speaking situations is proof positive that it's not a cure...it's a fluency method. And if it continues to work for him or anybody else, that is wonderful.

Is Health Care A RIGHT?

Okay, I stutter, but that doesn't make me stupid. :) Let me explain. I am completely 100% for every person having access to affordable, quality health care. But, I do not think that health care is an inalienable right. I think it's a service that we decide to provide to every citizen, either through private health insurance or a public option that we, as citizens, decide to fund through our taxes.

Why do I believe it is not a right? Because a right is something you have access to that requires nobody else to do anything or provide anything. I have the right to free speech, but nobody is required to provide me with a microphone or a stage or a CNN camera or air time. For my own free speech, I have to provide the means myself through my own efforts, money, bargaining skills, etc.

I have the right to eat...but I do not have the right to food. If I want food, I have to earn it, work for it, pay for it, or bargain for it, or grow it myself. Nobody is forced to give me food. If I have a right to food, then somebody else is required to work, pay, grow, or provide it for me. My right to food necessarily creates a slave.

Does that make sense?

At the basic, level, a right should never require or force anybody else to do anything for you. If it does, it's not a right. It's a service.

Health care is broken in The United States. We have 47 millions individuals who cannot afford health insurance. Would I be open to a publicly funded Public Option? Sure. As long as it's Constitutional and as long as we the people...know what's in it and we approve it ourselves. I do believe that every citizen deserves to have affordable, quality health care. EVERY citizen.