International Stuttering Day & The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children

"Anyone who knows what it is to stammer either personally or, as in my case, through a loved one's experience, will know the effect it can have on a life. To know what you want to say and be unable to say it is almost intolerably frustrating. All the patience in the world cannot prevent it affecting the self-confidence and self-esteem. Much of the problem stems from public ignorance of stammering and stammerers (...)." Michael Palin

The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children was opened in 1993. Palin agreed to the centre being named after him after he had portrayed the stammering character "Ken" in "A Fish Called Wanda". His support has helped create a high profile for the centre (via).



Stammering is prevalent worldwide. And so is - generally speaking - its negative stereotype. It is defined as a disorder in which the fluency of speech is disrupted. To the person affected, however, it can be much more than that. Stammering individuals often deal with shame, guilt and fears about speaking. They might feel that their speech has a negative impact on their performance evaluations leading to inaccurate judgements of their abilities or even to not being hired for a job. The most frequent stereotypes they are faced with is that stammering people are quiet, shy, avoiding, fearful, unpleasant, and nervous (Hofmann, 2008).



Hofmann, N. (2008) Critical Review: The Effects of Education Regarding Stuttering on the Attitudes of Individuals Towards People Who Stutter (via); photos via and via